Daa-trrring-tee-naw-tee-naw-no-kashhh.
Wondering what that is? The 90s child will know it. That was the sound of your PC connecting to the internet. And once connected there were your favorite handful sites that you wanted to visit in the unbelievably short time that your parents had allotted you. While growing up, we experienced the rise and fall of several websites. A few of the popular ‘we-owe-you-a-standing-ovation-and-a-salute’ websites, which made our childhood awesome, are remembered below. Check out how many of them do you actually remember.
1. YAHOO MESSENGER/YAHOO MAIL
“Hey, dude, you free, man????
– “Yeah, why????
“I’ll be waiting for your call on Yahoo Messenger! Come online, I have got to tell you something!???
*And the yellow smiley jumps in joy to show you’re, now, online*
Before Google and Skype, every 90s kid was addicted to Yahoo. It had everything from news to entertainment, games, emails and even an instant messenger! Oh, and wasn’t the phone call and ‘doodle’ inbuilt apps within Y-Messenger, one of the coolest things? Today, there’s WhatsApp for instant sharing, Gmail for work and Skype for talking. Which leaves our poor ol’ pal, Yahoo abandoned in the cyber universe, like the lil’ Pluto.
2. SPACE JAM:
And the Nostalgia Bomb drops.
1996, after the release of the super cool movie Space Jam had released, a website promoting the very same movie, was created. A page filled with sparkly stars and awesomely animated GIFs – like a cyber galaxy on the web. A website which used Times New Roman as the official font, taught kids how to draw the latest animated characters of the movie, and also provided the coolest downloadable trailers from ‘Space Jam’! All we required back then was a faster dial-up-connection and a hope that our parents wouldn’t ground us for the huge telephone bill at the end of the month. Well, dragging you back to present, sources state that the website has been untouched ever since 1996, and it’s just one of those things that actually exists as a museum masterpiece on the web.
Check out the vintage website here.
3. SANTABANTA.COM
An Englishman and Santa meet inside the toilet.
Englishman: Good evening, how do you do?
Santa: Good evening, we open the zip and do.
These jokes had taken the internet by storm! These jokes have been embedded so deep in every 90’s child that just taking their name, reminds them of a hilarious joke of theirs, which gets their stomach tied up in knots from laughing so hard. Santabanta.com was one such website which was truly dedicated to Santa and Banta’s jokes and infotainment. SantaBanta was also the top destination for HD wallpapers of Bollywood stars. As on August 30, 2015, this website ranks 2,812, on www.alexa.com. Why not visit it and refresh your memory?
4. ROTTENTOMATOES.COM
The most trusted website to know if a movie or TV show was worth watching. Before IMDB came into view, rottentomatoes.com was a website which made viewers rate the movies and critic reviews were written too, (for expert advice, you see). Here, a good review is denoted by a fresh red tomato, a bad review is denoted by a rotten green tomato splat and to receive a Certified Fresh rating a movie must have a steady Tomato-meter rating of 75% or better and the audience ratings were denoted by a bucket full of popcorn (good ratings), a tipped over popcorn bucket (for a so-so movie) and a plus sign for the movies that haven’t been rated. Currently, Rottentomatoes.com is a couch potato, with its bucket of popcorn, tipped over. (If you know what I mean) *wink*
5. NAPSTER.COM
The 90s was the birth of MP3 format. Napster was a site that emphasized sharing of music files in MP3 format. For those who are reading out about this website for the first time, well, this was long before WhatsApp, Hike or Line had come into view, which eased sharing of files. It was also one of the very first online music store, (more like iTunes’ great grandfather). Well, it ran into some legal copyrights infringement issues and with the outbreak of several other similar, more successful websites, Napster eventually had to shut down for good. (But, being the first of its kind, it’ll always be remembered).
6. ORKUT
Hey 90s generation, remember your old friend, Orkut? Doesn’t it ring a bell? A very familiar, bell, whose every bing and bong sends you reminiscing into your embarrassing past. (Yes, we have been there too). This social networking site, owned and operated by Google, was considered the posh (please sarcastically emphasize on the italics) way to socialize and meet new people. A new way to have a large fan following, ranking people as “trustworthy???, “Cool” or “dislike??? on a scale of 1 to 3, dedicating songs to the person above you in the forums and finding out who has a crush on you. Orkut had it all. Well, almost had it all, until Myspace, Facebook and Ning came into picture, with similar, but better interface.
7. MYSPACE.COM
Back in the days, having a Myspace account was the thaanng. Myspace is an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, where one could update their profiles with personal info, post their blogs, photos, music, and videos. Like a medieval version of Facebook. Sadly, the launch of other social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, (which offered many more facilities, comparatively) has seen the downfall of Myspace, making it nothing but a cyber-graveyard of abandoned profiles.
8. BLOGGER.COM
Developed by Google in 2003, for passionate bloggers who want their voices to be heard. It is a multi-user blogging site, where one could post an article, a poem, a photo, or even a video, through which they could showcase their talents. As it provided the bloggers with time stamped entries, their work was always saved in a chronological order which allowed them to track it easily. Unlike WordPress, they provided users with the freedom of customizing their blogs and personalizing the URL. Also, since it allowed the users to use their domain free of cost, it was highly used to express thoughts and emotions. But, with the release of sites like Instagram and Snapchat, reality hit blogger.com like a ton of bricks.
9. FRIENDSTER.COM
*clears throat* so, how many of you secretly had an account up here? *wink*
Before it got shut down, and way before it got redesigned, Friendster.com was like every other social networking site, which allowed users to maintain contacts, share online content easily. Oh, and it was also a dating site to discover trending places and events to attend. Apparently, due to the drastically changing and modernizing developments in the industry, (and of course, the hidden reason: Low Audience Traffic), the website has suspended its activities in February, 2015.
10. BARBIE.COM/CARTOONNETWORKHQ.COM
For all those obsessed with Cartoon Network and Barbies, you had your first accounts made up here, not for sending and receiving e-mails, but for playing cool games and communicating with Johnny Bravo or Dexter. Or texting and going out on virtual picnics with Barbie and Ken. Current scenario for these two websites: Let’s Ask Courage the Cowardly Dog’s Computer, Shall We?
Did I miss any of your favourite 90s websites? Let me know in the comments section and I’ll add it to the list pronto!
