Returning to the digital past is possible thanks to a platform that has managed to collect and store previous versions of websites. Is about "Wayback Machine» a page developed by the «archive.org» team, where we can see hundreds of thousands of archive sites with screenshots of how they looked in the past.
Another option is through the Google cache, a direct access to the past of the websites that the search engine offers us. Although Google has removed the button that allows us to see this information before, there is a manual method. Let's learn more details about this way of remembering what web design was like before.
How to view previous versions of websites
Remembering the past is quite emotional, especially if we detail aspects that have currently been overcome. A way to revive what websites were like 20 or 30 years ago is possible with the help of two mechanisms, Google's cache or through a digital file hosted on an online platform called Wayback Machine. Let's look at both methods and how they work:
View the old version of a website with Google cache
Previously, Google showed a button in its results list that allowed us to access the cached view of a site. However, currently this option is no longer visible, so we must resort to a manual format. It involves placing a web address in the browser's URL with the following format:
«http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:www.paginaweb.com»
This option only shows you the home screen of the website, if you press a link it will update the view to what it looks like now. At the top you will see detailed information about the page, such as the time and date of this version.
View the old version of a website with the Wayback Machine
Wayback Machine It is a true machine to travel to the past of the digital age. This platform archives websites from its beginnings, showing a screen of what the version of these pages looked like before. It is a direct encounter with the retro, revealing the beginnings of a project that has evolved today.
To use this platform, you just have to enter the Wayback Machine and enter the name of the website we want to know. Then he shows us a timeline indicating when an article was first published on that page.
After selecting a year in question, it shows us a calendar and an exact date highlighted in blue. When pressed, it indicates the exact date and time when an article was published on the web. There may be other platforms with the same name, which is viable considering that this is an archive of very old websites.
Making a chronology of time with our website www.androsis.com we can see that it takes us to the year 2008. When we enter that link, it shows us the articles published in the month of December, at 9:34 am with the content titled "SONY ERICSSON AND ASUS JOIN ANDROID" . We leave you a link in case you want to know the beginnings of our website.
With these tricks you can know the previous versions of websites in an instant. It's pretty easy to accomplish and you can research any page you want. What did you think of this information to revive the digital past of your favorite pages?
