Many websites started going "online" in the late 1980′s Mid 90′s. Developers back then could only dream about the amazing tools available today to web developers and designers.
What amazes me the most is, why many of those companies were smart enough to go online back in the 80′s 90′s, but still hold the same function and look of the site from many years ago.
- Crappy Pictures
- Little to no Function
- Mainly Text Links
- Boxy Designs
- Crazy Square Buttons
- No Shopping Carts
- Little to no SEO
- No Video
- No RSS
- No Blog
Why even put your domain name on your products, business cards etc if your site really doesn’t offer anything to the user? Is your content out of date? Are your product launches quicker to make it to market then on your website?
Are your products you offer on your site only a "picture" and look like this?
You really should consider a redesign! Will it cost you a little bit of money? Yes, but you are also putting up a bad image for your business by not updating to a more modern look and feel! You could also be losing potential customers due to the lack of function of the old design!
You do not need all the bells and whistles there is available today, but your website needs to work for you, not against you. Having an old, ugly, outdated website is doing you no good.
There are a lot of great development services available today that allow you, the site owner to easily manage your site after it is built. WordPress.com is a free service and has nearly unlimited plugins. It may say it’s a blog platform but do not let that fool you.
Services like GetAFreelancer.com are available so developers can bid on your project. There are smaller services like TiaWood.com and Vessio.com that will provide you with a very fair rate and some high quality work.
It’s time for an update as it’s almost 2010 for your 90′s looking and more importantly Functioning site.
As always, if you have any questions please feel free to ask. If you visit TiaWood.com or Vessio.com, tell them DotWeekly.com sent you!
Acro
I’m not aware of any web sites that went online in the 80′s. If you know of any, I’d love to take a look
There are plenty of web sites with a 1994-1996 look because that’s when they went online. Some are neglected, some are forgotten or there is no budget for them. Lastly, some new web sites are overly flashy or overloaded with content. Design is a delicate word. TGIF!
Jamie Zoch
Thank you for the correction Acro. It was the early to mid 90′s. It seems so “not that long ago” but at least you got my point
Since Symbolics.com was first registered in 1985.. that must of been why I was thinking “80′s”. They also have that early 90′s look and function.
theoretical
Oh my, the memories! I remember using gopher and reading through usenet groups to find a way to get my dialup/SLIP account to emulate a PPP connection so I could get cello to run on my windows 3.1 machine (at that point I think we had just upgraded to a 386, but don’t quote me on that). That was 1993. Here’s a brief history of browsers: http://www.livinginternet.com/w/wi_browse.htm
There are a lot of people who came way before me and were doing the bbs thing and such in the 80′s using 200 baud modems. Them were the days (or so they say). Maybe that’s what you were thinking of?
Now, in terms of design – what bugs me more than ugly sites are ones that aren’t standards compliant. The surest way to give your users a great experience and rank well is to get your html and css together and do that right. If your site is ugly, that doesn’t mean it won’t make you money. Ugly can still get sales/clicks. If your site isn’t standards compliant though, then you can kiss that search traffic and those sales goodbye.
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dotweekly.com%2F2009%2F05%2F01%2Fdoes-your-website-have-a-cool-80s-look-function%2F&charset=(detect+automatically)&doctype=Inline&group=0
theoretical
I really should reread my posts before clicking submit. 1200 baud.. not 200. My first modem as a 2400 I believe, though we quickly moved to 9600 and then 14.4 by the mid 90′s. Good times!
Sorry about that link too. Let’s see if this works better –
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dotweekly.com%2F&charset=utf-8&doctype=XHTML+1.0+Transitional&group=0&user-agent=W3C_Validator%2F1.654
Ms Domainer
*
I prefer functionality over flashy design that takes forever to load. In addition, popups are never wanted or appreciated.
Media pages are the worst, and I have gone into more hanging loops going to CNN, Newsweek, etc.
If I’m looking for info on the web, I want simplicity. I suspect I’m not alone.
There is one domain blogger whose page is so laden with features, ads, etc., that I no longer visit it. Too bad because I really liked his posts.
Dot Weekly is such a nice blog, easy on the eyes, and loads easily.
*
Jamie Zoch
@ Ms Domainer,
Thank you