The Wayback Machine ...

Have you ever wondered what your current website looked like before? The Wayback Machine let’s you travel back in time and look at archived versions of websites. Think about how your hairstyle and clothing have changed over the last 5 years - the Internet is no different! Much like the mullet haircut and acid wash jeans, I am sure that you will find some versions of websites that will make you ask - what were they thinking?

The Wayback Machine is an invention of the Internet Archive. Founded in 1996, the Internet Archive is a non-profit that was created to build an Internet library with the purpose of offering permanent access for researchers, historians, and scholars to historical collections that exist in digital format. In late 1999, the organization started to grow to include more well-rounded collections. You can now find archives for texts, audio, moving images, software, as well as archived web pages.

Are you curious to see what your competitor’s website looked like last month, last year or 5 years ago? Take a little time today to visit The Wayback Machine and peer into the past of some of your favourite websites. I am sure that you will find some skeletons in the closet and have a good laugh in the process!