How must it feel to have drastically changed the world, but no one recognizes your name? One could ask unsung heroes Nikola Tesla, Rosalind Franklin, or Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce. If websites could speak, you might also ask GeoCities.
[A] time before the blogs. A time when if you wanted to write about what you had for lunch actually meant you had to learn how to code.
"A Former CL" (anonymous) from 'GeoCities to Shutdown; What Was GeoCities, You Ask?'
GeoCities may have died today without much bang, but the service that aimed to give everyone their own personal homepage on the web certainly didn't spend its life sitting around waiting to die.
Well, maybe it did.
The website that in 1999 was sold to Yahoo! for over 3.5 billion dollars in stock never really made any money. BBC News has quoted ZDnet website editor Rupert Goodwins saying, I think GeoCities was the first proof that you could have something really popular and still not make any money on the internet.
GeoCities didn't just die, though. The service survived a good 14 years, which is pretty healthy considering the pace of the Internet. In that time it gave the average Joe a chance to make his mark on the Internet, a chance to learn a little something about the way the Internet works, a chance to showcase his skills to friends and family, and a chance to make an impression on complete strangers.
In the service’s formidable years, having a presence on the web was no simple task. Generally it involved very savvy people to assemble and operate the gear to serve data, or at least a deep enough pocket book to pay somebody else to do it for you. Giving this service away, free, in exchange for some ad-based revenue was GeoCities' modus operandi — Joe got to make a page about whatever he wanted, but GeoCities got to keep the income. That was how it was supposed to work.
I was a GeoCities customer; a "Homesteader" as we were called. I don't remember a damned thing about what I put on my 'Homesteads,' but I do remember I had a few. I also remember learning all about JavaScript, and how I could use it to hide those damned invasive advertisements that GeoCities kept injecting into my code. I also remember a separate service (the name of which I can not remember) that would register and let me use a domain name of my choice, in exchange for putting their ads on my page as well — I used JavaScript to try and get rid of those ads too.
Homesteading was for the layman, and so attracted laymen. GeoCities Homestead pages were ungodly ugly — cluttered with distracting backgrounds, terrible color schemes, and far too many animated GIF images. In that respect, GeoCities pages mirrored the general design of web pages of the Internet in its relative infancy. You need not look very far for an example of this today; MySpace is the GeoCities of the 2000s.
Times have changed, people moved on, and so must GeoCities. We must remember the past, in order to learn from it though, and so I present my own little tribute to the little-big site that was. This is the GeoCities homepage as of October 22, 1996, 13 years and 4 days ago, courtesy of the Internet Archive’s Way-Back Machine:
As mentioned previously, we must remember the past in order to learn from it. Web development has changed quite drastically over the years, and GeoCities is a great example of the way things were. For prosperity, I present the complete HTML code behind the screenshot above, complete with TABLE based layout (now considered extremely faux pas in the web design world):
<!-- NoBG NoHeader NoFooter -->
<html>
<head>
<BASE HREF="http://www.geocities.com.wstub.archive.org/">
<title>Welcome to GeoCities Home Page</title>
<meta name="keywords"
content="free home pages free email accounts free homepages themed communities">
</head>
<body background="/pictures/new/background.gif" link="0000d0">
</center>
<table width=630 cellspacing=4 border=0>
<tr>
<td valign=top width=120 align=right>
<img src="/pictures/new/home_sidebar1.gif" alt="Free Home Pages" border=0 usemap="#sidemap">
<map name="sidemap">
<Area shape="rect" coords="0, 0, 113, 255" href="/homestead/" target="_parent">
</map>
</td>
<td width=480 align=left valign=top>
<!-- --><A HREF="/cgi-bin/click_through/http://www.techweb.com/wire;techwire4.gif" target="_top">
<IMG SRC="/pictures/sponsor/techwire4.gif" ALT="Click Me!"><BR> </A>
<p>
<a href="/">
<img src="/pictures/new/home_bar1.gif" border=0></a>
<img src="/pictures/new/home_mast2.jpg" alt="Home Mast Image – See footer for links" border=0>
<map name="mastmap">
<Area shape="rect" coords="0,0,142,19" href="/homestead/" target="_parent">
<Area shape="rect" coords="17,24,141,38" href="/BHI/inform.html" target="_parent">
<Area shape="rect" coords="21,45,141,58" href="/homestead/homedir.html" target="_parent">
<Area shape="rect" coords="18,65,141,77" href="/BHI/new.html" target="_parent">
<Area shape="rect" coords="17,84,141,98" href="/homestead/homeday.html" target="_parent">
<Area shape="rect" coords="19,103,142,117" href="/BHI/about.html" target="_parent">
</map>
<img src="/pictures/new/home_buttons.gif" usemap="#mastmap" alt="Home Buttons –
See footer for links" border=0>
<br>
<img src="/pictures/new/hbar_blk.gif">
<table width=100%>
<tr valign=top align=center>
<td width=300>
<b>* <a href="/homestead/" target="_parent">
Free Home Pages & Free Member Email</b></a>
</td><td width=180>
<a href="/BHI/ad_info.html" target="_parent"><b>Advertiser Information</b></a><spacer size=8 type=horizontal>
</td></tr>
</table>
</center>
</td></tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>
<p>
<a href="/cgi-bin/click_through/http:/www.planetdirect.com/?planetd1.gif" target="_parent">
<img src="/pictures/planetd1.gif" border=0 vspace=6></a><br>
<a href="/cgi-bin/click_through/http://www.lycos.com/?lycos_new.gif" target="_parent">
<img src="/pictures/lycos_new.gif" border=0 vspace=6></a><br>
<!-- Netcarta Button
<a href="/cgi-bin/click_through/http://www.netcarta.com/prod/?netcartadl.gif" target="_parent">
<img src="/pictures/netcartadl.gif" border=0 vspace=6></a><br>
-->
<a href="/cgi-bin/click_through/http://www.freeloader.com/partners/geociti.htm?freeload_dl.gif" target="_parent">
<img src="/pictures/freeload_dl.gif" border=0 vspace=6></a><br>
<a href="http://store.geocities.com/cgi-bin/geostore/vsc/geostore/product_main.html?E+mystore" target="_parent">
<img src="/pictures/new/geostore_sm.gif" border=0 vspace=6></a><br>
<a href="/cgi-bin/click_through/http://www.geocities.com/geoworld/geoworld.html?blacksun_icon.gif" target="_parent">
<img src="/pictures/new/blacksun_icon2.gif" border=0 vspace=6></a><br>
<a href="/cgi-bin/click_through/http://www.geocities.com/dialweb/dialweb_home.html?telet_logo.gif" target="_parent">
<img src="/pictures/telet_logo.gif" border=0 vspace=6></a><br>
<a href="/cgi-bin/click_through/http://www.geocities.com/BHI/yellowpages.html?proxyellow.gif" target="_parent">
<img src="/pictures/proxyellow.gif" border=0 vspace=6></a><br>
</td>
<td>
<!-- Use these colors only: blue – - #0000d0 ; red – - #ff0000 ; -->
<table border=0 width=100% cellspacing=5>
<tr>
<td align=left valign=top>
<dl>
<dt><b>Today’s Cool Homestead </b>
<font size=-1><a href="http://www.tc.net/talk/5906/1.ram">
<img src="/pictures/dialwebAU.gif" hspace=4 align=middle
border=0 alt="Audio Update">GeoCities Daily Audio Update</a></font>
<dt>
<font size=4>
<a href="/HotSprings/1837/" target="_parent">HotSprings 1837</a></font><br>
So you hit the snooze bar ten times every morning. You might be lazy. But then again, you might have a sleep
disorder. Find out here.
<p>
<dt><font size=+1 color="red"><b>GeoCities News of the Day</b> -</font>
<font size=+1 color="#0000d0"> 10/22/96 </font>
<p>
<dt><table width=100% border=4 cellpadding=4>
<tr valign=top><td>
<a href="/geoplus/">
<img src="/pictures/sponsor/geoplus_newlevel.gif" border=0></a>
<b>Introducing GeoPlus!</b> <br>
Use up to 10MB for your site. Earn double GeoPoints. Post live news feeds on your
home page. Get a bundle of free software from McAfee Associates. And more.
<a href="/geoplus/">Start today</a> with our pre-launch subscription offer!</td></tr>
</table>
<p>
<dt><b>Is modern society getting you down?</b>
<dd>Come meet Grogg, the Internet’s only Neanderthal advice columnist, this week
on the <a href="/Heartland/show.html">GeoCities Mainstage</a>.
<p>
<!--
<dt><b>Read our latest <a href="/newsletter/" target="_parent">newsletter</a></b>
<p>
-->
<dt>
<b>A new <a href="/SiliconValley/conference">
Microsoft conferencing tool</a> debuts in GeoCities!</b>
<dd>SiliconValley hosts a brand new product that allows GeoCitizens
to simultaneously chat and share a whiteboard using Microsoft NetMeeting.
<p>
<!--
<dt><b>Visit the new GeoCities
<a href="/WallStreet/" target="_parent">Financial Center</a> in WallStreet</b>
<dd>Get the latest stock quotes, charts and market news. Powered by <b>Quote.com</b>.
<p>
<dt><b>Give your site a sound bite!</b>
<dd>Greet visitors to your home page with an audio message in your voice.
<a href="/dialweb/dialweb_home.html" target="_parent"> Try it for 30 days</a>
<b><font color="red"> FREE</font></b>. Brought to you by GeoCities and TELET Communications.
<p>
<dt><b> <a href="http://store.geocities.com" target="_parent">GeoStore</a> Grand Opening!</b>
<dd>Shop the GeoCities <a href="http://store.geocities.com" target="_parent">GeoStore</a>.
Choose from the brand new line of Official GeoCities merchandise and make your homestead a showcase!
Don't miss our <i>Grand Opening Specials.</I>
<p>
<dt><b>New <a href="/cgi-bin/bb/message/1?detail=description" target="_parent">Help Forum</a> for home page questions</b>
<dd>Stop by the new <a href="/cgi-bin/bb/message/1?detail=description" target="_parent">GeoCities Help Center</a>
for quick answers to all your GeoCities questions. Don't forget to visit the new
<a href="/help/help.html" target="_parent">member help page</a> for a complete index to online help.
<p>
-->
<dt><b>Float through <a href="/geoworld/geoworld.html">GeoWorld</a> with the new Black
Sun Netscape Plug-in</b>
<dd><a href="/geoworld/geoworld.html">Download</a> the plug-in and visit GeoWorld today.
<p>
<dt><b>Still haven't signed up for <a href="/georewards">GeoRewards</a>?</b>
<dd>Then you're missing out on a chance to win some great prizes. We've just
announced September’s <a href="/georewards/winner.html">winners</a>, and
October’s prize is a great package from Quote.com.
<p>
<!--
<dt><b>Want to draw more visitors to your site?</b>
<dd>GeoCities is pleased to announce a new addition to our family of banner exchange programs.
<A href="http://geocities.linkexchange.com/geojoin/" target="_parent">Internet Link Exchange</a>
joins our own <a href="/georewards/">GeoRewards</a> program as a new way to promote your site.
<P>
-->
<dt><b>GeoCities Job Listing </b>
<p>
<dd><a href="/BHI/joblist005.html">Advertising Traffic Manager wanted</a>
<!-- Live Help Chat Announcement
<dt><b>Do you need some personalized help with your home page?</b>
<dd>Join Mike in the <a href="/help/help.html" target="_parent">HelpChat Room</a> each weekday!
<p>
-->
<!-- Forms Announcement
<dd>GeoCities now supports <a href="/homestead/homeans.html#form" target="_parent">Forms</a>.
Read how to add them to your page, and then create surveys, feedback forms, or any
other type that you'd like. We also have two
<a href="/homestead/homeans.html#form" target="_parent">samples</a> for you to view, and
help you design your own.
<p>
<dd>Check out the new GeoCities <a href="/BHI/proxmap.html" target="_parent">Your Town</a>
viewer for the location and listing of every business in the country. Feel free to add
this technology to your GeoCities <a href="/BHI/freehp.html" target="_parent">home page</a>.
<p>
-->
<p>
</dl>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td></tr>
<tr><td></td>
<td>
<hr>
<center>
<font size=-1>
<a href="/homestead/homedir.html" target="_parent">[Neighborhoods]</a>
<a href="/BHI/inform.html" target="_parent">[Information]</a>
<a href="/BHI/new.html" target="_parent">[What's New?]</a>
<a href="/homestead/homeday.html" target="_parent">[What's Cool?]</a>
<a href="/Utilities/utilities.html" target="_parent">[Utilities]</a>
<a href="/help/help.html" target="_parent">[Help]</a>
<br>
© 1995,1996 <A HREF="/BHI/about.html" target="_parent"> GeoCities.</A>
<A HREF=/BHI/rights.html>All rights reserved</A>
</font></center>
</td></tr>
</table>
</noframes>
</html>Millions of people have used GeoCities to set up a presence on the web, and of those surely at least many tens (or hundreds) of thousands have later become further involved in development on the web. If GeoCities hadn't made it so easy to set up their first online presence, I'd wager that far fewer people would have gone into a web-related career or pursued web development as an interest. I don't think it’s too far gone to say that a handful of former-GeoCities Homesteaders have perhaps created one or more of the popular websites we use on the Internet today. Without GeoCities to lay the groundwork, the web might be a drastically different place than it is right now.
Farewell old friend.