Late 1990s Web Design

I'm looking for some feedback on how to make retrojunkie.net more like a 1990s website.
Currently I'm using WordPress which is great for the blog side of things, but it feels too modern.
Well that and my account keeps getting brute force attacks thrown at it.
I've installed some protection to help alleviate the issue... but it is still there.
I've been thinking of changing for some time now too, just after I got infinite scrolling working too! :wink-new:

I'd like to keep it as basic looking as possible. A header, some sort of navigation is a must. Perhaps a side bar or top bar?

 

make it all in notepad with HTML, by hand. Type out all the scripting yourself.

That'll do it.

 

Hahaha, I believe copy and paste were both around back in the 90s :wink-new:

 

I believe a lot of the old school pages consisted of a gif similar to this

 

I remember a few sites that looked like that someone just wrote on a white or black piece of paper or all the "free webhosting" with forced ad's plastered all over the page.

 

My old Sonic the Hedgehog site once had those on it! :wink-new:

Imagine the 90s without ads everywhere? Where were you AdBlock!!!! :biggrin-new:

 

background must be a 200x200 graphic that repeats over and over to create a space/starry image

 

My Sonic website also had that...


Actually I had a webpage about the solar system as well, it fitted there much better than on the Sonic webpage! :congratulatory:

 

Basically huge links, in tables. That's how 90's websites roll. Also with the "Made with frontpage" logo at the end.

 

Hahaha, mine all had HotDog Pro by Sausage Software! :biggrin-new:

 

I wonder if any of my old "websites" are on webarchive? I can't remember the URLs though

 

I do! Sadly mine were nestled too deep and weren't indexed. Although I did find images! :encouragement:

 

Easy : no CSS, everything into tables, only gif not even jpeg, no alignment, poor content ripped off other sites without mentioning source, and add a "made with Frontpage" logo. Should cover the basics.

 

Use frames. Left frame for navigation. All information has to go in tables with the border left on with that bevelled look. Links left as plain blue underlined. No CSS. No PHP. Perhaps some terrible animated GIFs for no reason. Ooh, and scrolling marquees. You can even get advanced and have a pop-up message box saying WELCOME TO MY SITE! [OK]. Maybe even use text files for lists. Oh, and you really don't want a shopping cart. You have to make them e-mail you! And use basic fonts, because web fonts didn't exist. Maybe even something like Comic Sans. Use different sizes for your text. Effectively, make it as basic and fucking ugly as possible.

Believe it or not, people still use sites designed in the Nineties:

http://www.coin.demon.co.uk/

http://www.myatari.com/

And some articles illustrating examples:

http://www.flowtown.com/blog/9-websites-stuck-in-the-1990s-2

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/6125914/How-20-popular-websites-looked-when-they-launched.html

 

Hahaha I did have scrolling marques as well... or was blink more popular... :subdued:

Edit: Maybe I could use three frames, one for a banner at the top and side bar and main page.

 

Horray-aaayyy-ay-y!

 

Those top frames were a nightmare when not done correctly... which was usual!

Oh, you have to get rid of the Twitter feed and the Youtube link. Those didn't exist! And the share with Facebook. And why is there a spelling error in your Google button - it says +1! Besides, don't you use Yahoo! or Altavista?!

BTW, where's the web ring?!?!

 

I was never a part of no stinking web ring!

However I did have an Altavista search box! Wow the memories!



Scanned by myself and edited to blend in better with the star background.
The internet really did rule in the mid-late 90s didn't it?

 

Don't forget to "optimize" for IE4. Or Netscape.

Mention that fact with a banner image at the bottom of every. damn. page.

Bonus point for ensuring it doesn't work on the other one.

 

Netscape was always my weapon of choice, at least IE has lost significant market share in recent years! :sorrow: