Is there any way to know how Google, Microsoft, Apple or your own website looked like a few years ago? The answer is Wayback Machine, a kind of online time machine that works like an archive for the Web, storing snapshots of websites since 1996 up until now.
Wayback Machine is a lot of fun to browse, but the interface is a bit off-putting. It displays all available snapshots, organized by years, in an almost endless side-scrolling table. Well, that was until now. The unofficial Internet archive has just released a new version with a much better-looking interface. Results are now displayed in a calendar that fits your screen just right and is much easier to browse.
Old design
New design
Simply select the year you want to check and hover the mouse over the exact day you’d like to see. The bigger the blue circle, the more snapshots you’ll find available in a floating window for that specific date.
The new design is still at a beta stage, so you may find the odd bug. In any case, it’s good news for those of us who sometimes like to take a look at the past – even if it’s just websites.
