Earlier this week we learned that Georgetown will be revamping its archaic website next year (granted, in University-speak that could mean anything from next year to the year after current pre-frosh graduate, but progress nonetheless).  As a tribute, here’s a brief history of the Georgetown website, courtesy of the always entertaining internet archives.

1997-1999

Not a bad looking website, considering it was built over a decade ago.  But once you get past the homepage to some of the sub-pages you see how rudimentary it really is.  Check out the search page with detailed instructions detailed instructions on how to do these newfangled internet searches.

1999-2001

For the second iteration of the website, they kept the same stock illustration of Georgetown but added in news blurbs and put more links on the homepage.  Some of the sub-pages are more user-friendly, but many still use the same formatting from the first website.

2002-2003

This version of the site should look familiar since it’s essentially the same template currently in use.  It’s a significant improvement over the previous site, at least in terms of aesthetics and presents a wide variety of links arranged logically on the homepage.  This time, sub-pages got spiffed up into roughly their current form.

2004-Present

Some superficial changes to the website—horizontal picture with news and events underneath and incorporating the design of the seal—but it’s essentially the same as the 2002-03 website.

Moral of the story? Yes, our website’s sub-par, but we’ve come a long way, baby.  Now here’s a question for you techy types: What are some features you’d like to see incorporated in the University’s new website?  Leave your thoughts in the comments!

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 30th, 2009 at 4:37 pm and is filed under News, Vox Populi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.