internet archives other than archive.org

January 22, 2005 11:45 AM

Where archive.org fails: I'd like to research the development of news websites - specifically those established by traditional media companies (CNN, The New York Times, etc). While archive.org is a valuable resource, many of the sites I'd like to look at block the automated scripts (robots) that make archiving possible. What's more, some of the sites archived are woefully incomplete and are missing images, etc. Is there an alternative to archive.org or another resource that I might use?

I've given some thought to looking at design books from the early 90's in the hopes that they contain screenshots. While this is a more laborious way to go about the research, it might work. Any suggestions on that front would be welcome.

What I'm trying to do is trace the design evolution of online news - how it's adjusted to changing screen resolutions, coding languages, audience demands, etc. While I can find old copies of newspapers at the library, finding old versions of websites has proven extremely difficult.

posted by aladfar to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

Jakob Nielsen's Designing Web Usability has a screenshot of the New York Times circa 1999. His Homepage Usability has screenshots of the BBC, CNNfn, and USA Today, all from 2001.

For a slightly older comparison, David Siegel's Creating Killer Web Sites has a screenshot of USA Today from 1997. The book is full of examples of web design from the mid-nineties, but that's the only news site.

Paul Kahn's Mapping Web Sites has screenshots of CNN.com from 1995, 1996, 1998 and 2000.
posted by Jeff Howard at 12:38 PM on January 22, 2005

Response by poster: That's a good start - thanks Jeff!
posted by aladfar at 12:57 PM on January 22, 2005

The Digital Collection has not only September 11, 2001 from a wide variety of sources, but also a collection of web pages from a few subsequent dates.

Also, try this google search:

site:archives.cnn.com
posted by WestCoaster at 8:14 PM on January 22, 2005

The Museum of E-Failure has screen shots from failed websites, many of them news sites, from 1998 onward. Special shoutout to Pathfinder, Time Warner's failed attempt to be a newstand for its brands.
posted by haqspan at 1:00 PM on January 24, 2005