This is a neat visualization. It makes me want to build something like this with actual screenshots (scraping from places like old forums, image hosting sites, etc.) rather than web page renderings.
One of my most prized possessions is my collection of personal screenshots -- I've managed to save basically every screenshot I've taken over the past ~20 years. It's very nostalgic to put them on shuffle and see how my desktop has changed over time, remember what random thing I was working on, etc.
Could be cool to extend the concept beyond one user.
I kind of wish I had that.
The closest thing I have to this is my Steam screenshot library, which is just memories of games - or social interactions. on games. I just checked and the oldest one is back from 2011. Prior to Steam they would have been on Xfire, but as that service died, all of those are lost.
Rarely any get added these days, and they're all on private. But it's fun to look back at which games I've played over the past ~14 years.
It is implemented using web maps technology (https://leafletjs.com/), similar to e.g. the Google Maps satellite view. The screenshots are then served pre-assembled into quadratic map tiles at different zoom levels. This way the client only ever has to load and display a hand ful of relevant tiles.
Wow, I‘m impressed. This is a really cool tool to get some inspiration as web dev. Although I have to say it‘s a bit scary how similar all the websites look nowadays…
Glad to see "dead internet theory" not holding up!
PS: As someone who worked on internet search, I can assure you that at least half of most popular web pages change in about 6 months time. And the change is in no way something that can be done by bots.
Very cool. Would be interesting for a more niche filter criteria, since you aren't exactly finding many hidden gems in the top million mostly corporate sites. Maybe AI could provide that filter (top 1 million "niche" sites, or smaller sites that have been around since the late 90s).
This really makes clear how boring web design has become. 99% of websites use the same standard layout, there's almost nothing distinct or exciting about any of the designs. I remember web design being an art form, with books being printed with the best designs... I'd visit brand websites just to look at the design itself, even if I wasn't interested in what they were selling.
Of course not all is bad, but I'd love to see some creativity again, it seems like almost no one dares to break the norm anymore.
It would be interesting to analyze this dataset in terms of colors, layout, features, fonts, photos, etc. to be able to statistically measure the uniqueness or creativity of a given web design.
Take heart: I checked this by taking a random screenshot, and browsing down to see how long it took me to find a commercial page. A quick sense of my trail was really encouraging:
- Open source wasm runtime
- Science transparency campaign
- Netherlands gov anti-climate change program
- open thesaurus
- GNOME conference
- France's portal of towns and cities
- Scientific measurement standardistion page
- Scientific journal
- free eBook library
- parked domain
- Linux community
- Open source graphics library
- placeholder/template blog
- A book publisher (selling books!)
It took quite a while to find a commercial site,and that itself (a bookseller) is a positive thing itself.
I’m one of the makers of this - thank you for posting!
We built it in early 2024 and it’s due an update.
While the main visualisation is currently out of date we’ve been grabbing screenshots monthly for the last 18 months. There’s a a free (no key required) API to all the data at https://ScreenshotOf.com
I’d love to hear any ideas you have for improving it.
36 comments
[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 57.3 ms ] threadOne of my most prized possessions is my collection of personal screenshots -- I've managed to save basically every screenshot I've taken over the past ~20 years. It's very nostalgic to put them on shuffle and see how my desktop has changed over time, remember what random thing I was working on, etc.
Could be cool to extend the concept beyond one user.
Rarely any get added these days, and they're all on private. But it's fun to look back at which games I've played over the past ~14 years.
Not a lot melonking sites.
https://i.postimg.cc/SK0CMnPt/ss.png
PS: As someone who worked on internet search, I can assure you that at least half of most popular web pages change in about 6 months time. And the change is in no way something that can be done by bots.
Of course not all is bad, but I'd love to see some creativity again, it seems like almost no one dares to break the norm anymore.
What a story: https://thehustle.co/million-dollar-homepage-alex-tew
- Open source wasm runtime
- Science transparency campaign
- Netherlands gov anti-climate change program
- open thesaurus
- GNOME conference
- France's portal of towns and cities
- Scientific measurement standardistion page
- Scientific journal
- free eBook library
- parked domain
- Linux community
- Open source graphics library
- placeholder/template blog
- A book publisher (selling books!)
It took quite a while to find a commercial site,and that itself (a bookseller) is a positive thing itself.
I’m one of the makers of this - thank you for posting!
We built it in early 2024 and it’s due an update.
While the main visualisation is currently out of date we’ve been grabbing screenshots monthly for the last 18 months. There’s a a free (no key required) API to all the data at https://ScreenshotOf.com
I’d love to hear any ideas you have for improving it.