30 years ago today the world's first website was created.

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.npr.org/2021/08/06/1025554426/a-look-back-at-the-very-first-website-ever-launched-30-years-later

On August 6, 1991, the first website was introduced to the world.

And while perhaps not as exciting or immersive as some of the nearly 1.9 billion websites that exist today, it makes sense that the first web page launched on the good ol' W3 was, well, instructions about how to use it.

The first website contained information about the World Wide Web Project. It launched at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, where it was created by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee. On it, people could find out how to create web pages and learn about hypertext (coded words or phrases that link to content).

Berners-Lee created the web for the same reason a lot of us visit websites today: to make life just a little bit easier. For him, the problem to be solved rested in computers themselves: there was no way to share information between different devices.

And so in 1989, Berners-Lee proposed the idea for an information management system to his managers at CERN. The system would use hypertext to connect documents on separate computers connected to the Internet.

*snip*

[sarisataka]

1. The second website

Was porn

[underpants]

6. There are three industries that immediately capitalize on new communications

From wall paintings to moveable type to radio to TV etc. they flood every new means of communication.

Porn (erotica/suggestive images)
Religion
Wrestling (violence/combative)

[rickford66]

11. My BIL was downloading nude pics before this.

[Demovictory9]

12. Before porn wete thosr.bulletin.boards

[vanlassie]

2. And the next day the first cat video was posted!

[Kittycatkat]

3. Just a little nostalgic for August 5, 1991...

[NotANeocon]

4. But was it .edu .mil or .com?

[OAITW r.2.0]

5. All we did was amplify the stupid. nt

[Hekate]

7. Only 30 years?! Bookmarking to share with my favorite computer genius.

[Nevilledog]

14. Right?

[Hoyt]

8. Honest to gawd, I'm not sure how I managed before today's technology.

[ShazzieB]

15. Same here.

I would, never, ever, ever want to go back.

[House of Roberts]

9. The chronology of the pre - internet.

Internet History Timeline: ARPANET to the World Wide Web

[Budi]

10. Quite an interesting piece of history

And so in 1989, Berners-Lee proposed the idea for an information management system to his managers at CERN. The system would use hypertext to connect documents on separate computers connected to the Internet.

At first, the managers' response was something along the lines of cool, but no thanks. But when Berners-Lee returned with a new-and-improved proposal a year later, the computer scientist was granted permission to work on the project.

By 1991, it was ready to launch. Berners-Lee had developed HTML, HTTP and URLs — the building blocks for creating websites — all on his NeXT computer designed by Steve Jobs.

[patphil]

13. I got on very early; either the fall of 1992 or the spring of 1993...don't remember exactly.

I seem to remember there being something like 37,000 websites at the time.
And, I do remember seeing a soft porn website there.

[Celerity]

16. your numbers are a bit off

https://www.internetlivestats.com/total-number-of-websites/

By "Website" we mean unique hostname (a name which can be resolved, using a name server, into an IP Address).
It must be noted that around 75% of websites today are not active, but parked domains or similar.

Periodic drops in the total count can depend on various factors, including an improvement in NetCraft's handling of wildcard hostnames. For example, in August 2012, over 40 million hostnames on only 242 IP addresses were removed from the Survey.

Popular Websites (launch year & how they looked)

[patphil]

17. Yeah, timing is probably off a bit.