BBC on the WWW: the website from 1996 to now

We decided to take a look through the Wayback Machine tool to watch the evolution of the Beeb online. The machine is a neat tool that has archived 445 billion web pages.

On the 21^st December, 1996, John Major was Prime Minister; Mars Attacks, 101 Dalmatians and the English Patient were in cinemas; and the BBC’s website looked like this…

That’s a lot of blue.

Later, in April 1997 – we can see past the homepage….

We wondered – what was ‘new’ in April 1997?

By October however, someone had clearly had a word with the design team…

Classic BBC, all the content leaning to the left…

By December, a recognisable website was taking shape.

Let’s fast forward.

This is the BBC website at half past ten on the morning of 11^th September 2001.

At quarter past six, the news of the terrorist attacks in New York dominated the airwaves.

In 2003, after the invasion of Afghanistan, the US – backed by the UK – launched an attack on Iraq...

By the 2010 General Election, the BBC website starts to balance photos and text more effectively.

And this is what the site looks like today…

The BBC’s website has certainly come a long way since 1996. Let’s see that again…