![]() ![]() ![]() When clicked, the monster illustrations took you to different pages of the website - each with their own themed, patterned background, of course. This illustrated navigation style was popular in the 90s, particularly for sites aimed at kids. The Goosebumps homepage featured a collection of clickable illustrations on a dark background. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched the first iteration of its site in 1994. In fact, PizzaHut still keeps a (non-functional) version of PizzaNet online. However, it’s clear that PizzaNet is a notable milestone in the evolution of online food ordering. The clunky PizzaNet site fizzled out and Pizza Hut didn’t introduce a more robust online ordering system until the 2000s. Eventually, tech company The Santa Cruz Operation connected point of sale systems to servers in Pizza Huts around the country. PizzaNet form submissions were sent to a Pizza Hut server in Wichita, Kansas and then sent back to the Santa Cruz, California franchise that piloted the program. ![]() The ordering process was rudimentary - visitors filled out a form with their information and pizza order, got a phone call to confirm, and paid in cash upon delivery.īut there was a lot more going on behind-the-scenes. While the grayscale site with Times New Roman font wasn’t much to look at, it marked the beginning of a new way to order pizza. This experiment by Pizza Hut hit the world wide web in 1994. Long before DoorDash and GrubHub, there was PizzaNet. Pitchfork’s site has gone through a few website redesigns since its initial launch and continues to publish music news, reviews, and more today. For example, Broken Social Scene went from a relatively unknown band to selling out venues after Pitchfork rated their album, You Forgot it in People, a 9.2 out of 10. Many early indie bands have Pitchfork to thank for their break into the mainstream. Plus, the regular updates and in-depth reviews made Pitchfork a trusted resource for the latest in the music scene. It adapted two familiar mediums in a way that encouraged people to stay on the site and consume more content. This combination is what made Pitchfork such a significant 90s website. The site used a newspaper-meets-encyclopedia style of navigation - columns separated different beats and each article included a sidebar with links to recent items, news, and related record reviews. Pitchfork’s website design mirrored many other late 90s sites like eBay and Yahoo Games, particularly on the homepage. The site hosted a large variety of Java applets and Flash games in categories like card games, board and tile games, word games, sports games, and more. Yahoo Games, a subsection of the main Yahoo! website, launched in 1998. So, if you’re looking for the equally iconic soundtrack, stream it on Spotify instead of trying to buy a CD or cassette from the Lunar Tunes page of the site. This iconic site is still live but hasn’t been updated since the 90s. The Space Jam site is a textbook example of what web design in the 90s looked like - colorful, clunky, and full of mismatched backgrounds and unnecessary animations. When clicked, the icons took us to interactive landing pages full of trivia games, coloring books, behind-the-scenes content, and even downloadable screensavers and posters. The starry tiled background with clip art planets, spaceships, and basketballs invited us to browse around and learn more about the Space Jam universe. When this site came out, it was the pinnacle of web design. Space Jam wasn’t just a movie, it was an experience - and it started on the website that promoted the film. This gem from 1996 is burned into the memories of so many 90s kids.
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