How 21 Popular Websites Looked Back In The Day

    Awkward baby photos from the World Wide Web.

    Sam Parker
    by Sam Parker

    BuzzFeed Contributor

    1. The Daily Mail in 1998.

    My, how they grow!

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    2. The Guardian in 1996.

    Mind you, the broadsheets weren't much better...

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    3. The Mirror in 1998.

    Back in the '90s, tabloids hadn't quite mastered replicating their front pages online. Although we're desperate to read Carol Vorderman's Guide To The Web.

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    4. The Independent in 2000.

    The Indie was once a colour we don't think we've seen on a website before or since.

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    5. AOL in 2003.

    When everyone used AOL for email, this was how the homepage looked. Cute.

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    6. Hotmail in 1998.

    Hotmail has changed a lot, too.

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    7. Apple in 1994.

    Via makeuseof.com

    Long before the iPhone, this is how the world's most cutting edge technology company sold their services.

    8. UK Parliament in 1996.

    In the '90s, reading up on the government was even more boring than it is today.

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    9. Wikipedia in 2001.

    Wikipedia really was an ugly baby, bless it.

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    10. TripAdvisor in 2003.

    Back in the day, TripAdvisor hadn't quite matured into the home of exotic dreams we now know and love.

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    11. Ebay in 2000.

    Would you trust this obnoxious youth with your credit card details? Millions did.

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    12. The BBC in 1997.

    The BBC website was actually remarkably uncluttered for the era.

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    13. Channel 4 in 1996.

    "WELCOME ...to the new-look Channel 4 web site. We hope you like it! Check out our new toolbar on the left where you will see that the diverse contents of our site are simply a click away."

    Ah, the naivety of youth.

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    14. ITV in 2002.

    How goofy was ITV? We'll call it a late bloomer.

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    15. Friends Reunited in 2000.

    Believe it or not, Friends Reunited is still going strong today. But more to the point, look at it 13 years ago! Remember, this clipart nightmare was an online phenomenon in its day.

    16. The Royal Family in 1999.

    Always ahead of their time, the Royals were mucking about with gifs 14 years ago.

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    17. James Bond in 2000.

    007.com used to look a bit like an early computer game. We approve.

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    18. Ask Jeeves in 2005.

    Back before you-know-who had the search engine market sewn up, this curiously British contender was still competing for your search terms. Actually, it still is - and today Jeeves, is in 3D!

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    19. Yahoo! in 1996.

    In the days of 56k dial up modem, pictures could take forever to load so websites tended to avoid them. Which helps explain the look Yahoo! was rocking.

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    20. Google in 1998.

    Doesn't actually look that different, does it? Proving that a good idea simply executed is usually pretty timeless...

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    21. Robbie Williams in 2000.

    'Let Me Entertain You' wasn't a sentiment you could apply to Robbie's fan page back in the old days of the internet.