10 years on the Web
Proof that I’m getting old: as of sometime last month, The Quotations Page has been online for 10 years. I put the first primitive version of the site online in 1994. Thanks to Google News, here’s the quotes of the day announcement from November 22, 1994 and the search engine announcement from November 25. The Internet Archive doesn’t go back to 1994, but here’s what the site looked like in 1997 and 2000.
It’s bizarre to imagine the Web when I started this site. Yahoo started about the same time as my site. Google wouldn’t appear until 1998. Nobody worried about PageRank back then, but I was quite pleased to be listed in the Internet Scout Report. Netscape 1.0 was released in December 1994, and Internet Explorer would first appear in 1995.
The site has grown quite popular since then, and what was once a simple hobby site is now a full-time job. It currently has a database of over 21,000 quotations and over 30,000 unique URLs, making the word “page” in the name sound increasingly silly. In 1996, the site had about 3000 page views per month. Last month, there were 11 million page views and nearly two million unique visitors.
I started the site on a personal account that came with my Internet access. In 1996 it moved to its own domain name on a shared hosting account. In 2001 it moved to a dedicated server and in 2003 I added a second server. It’s now keeping two 2 GHz Pentium 4 servers busy, along with my other sites.
I launched a slightly-redesigned version of the site today, with a more modern color scheme and yet more fixes to the ancient code. (Most of the pages even validate!) Next on the agenda: a much better search engine.
I couldn’t have lasted this long without lots of loyal visitors, my wife Laura (who compiled the motivational quotations), the regulars at the forum, and other contributors. Thanks everyone, and here’s to 10 more years!
Gosh, yes, this article made me feel all nostalgic. I’m 21 now, but my first experience was with Prodigy dialup back when I was about 11 or so, and I was cranking out HTML only a few years after that. Though my sites have come and gone, my memories will always remain. :)
I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestioned ability of a man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor. -Henry David Thoreau
Congratulations! Here’s to ten more years of success. Charlie
hands down! one of the best, most imformative and easiest to use sites ive ever experienced. great idea, great execution, bright future!
well done
Thanks for your work, and I have been a fan of the site for the past few years, and [ass it on to others all the time. well done!
I think this site is absolutely wonderful. well done for all the hard work you have put in to make it so absorbing. May you go from strength to strength.
i just want to say that there lots learn from quotation and im thank for that to teach in good away and to us a guidelene day to life and the future thank for everything.
Wow, it only took me ten years to find your site!
I have recently found the site after 10 years and if I can help it I will still use in for quotes 10 years from now!
Great Job!