Can anyone tell me when web directories first showed up on the internet? (The Year) I have searched this site and google must be using the wrong key words. Thanks, Dice10
Yahoo or Alta Vista created what arguably was the first web directory. AltaVista was publicly launched as an internet search engine on 15 December 1995. I think Yahoo directory predate it. I am not 100% sure of this info though
Yahoo directory goes back to 1996 according to archive.org. I am not sure if it was around before archive.org started keeping records.
Someone claimed in another thread that their directory was one of the oldest on the web at six years old. I was bored that day and did some research. There is a great article somewhere on this, sorry didn't keep the addy. But here's the list I came up with... According to a few minutes of research of web history articles, wikipedia and whois... The Virtual Web Directory - 1991 (one article listed this as 'first web directory') EINet Galaxy web directory - 1994 (think this one is gone) Yahoo! Directory - 1994 Starting Point - 1995 Librarian's Internet Index - 1995 Best of the Web - 1996 BUBL LINK Catalogue of Internet Resources - 1996 (no longer updated as of April 2011) DMOZ - 1998 JoAnt - 2001 A few niche ones... Internet Scout Report - 1994 (article identified as oldest academic directory) Business.com - 1998 Boating Links - 1997/1998
Whois record can't prove anything for this research. For example, BOTW was regged in 96 but they started directory after a long time. Nice research by the way.
Most of the information came from an article on the history of the web. I'm not sure I agree with everything in it but it seemed to be fairly accurate about dates. I think it was incorrect about when Alta Vista launched though which is why I didn't list it. I seem to remember using it before Yahoo! but it just might have been that AV was better. DEC was already falling apart around that time so it was pretty much doomed from launch. While true that whois doesn't say when a site was actually launched it does tell you the earliest it could have launched.
Feel like ages ago. Interesting topic to discuss, I never actually think about it anymore because I feel like it's been there forever. I agree WHOIS search sometimes give wrong information. How about Wayback Machine? Is it any good?
there is one tool in Google by which you can see the age of web directories. I want to thank you all for giving information.