

Show HN: Startup Timelines - bakztfuture
http://bakztfuture.github.io/startuptimelines/index.html

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dean
Great idea. However, from an implementation perspective, it's a little hard to
tell what's going on with all the flashing images. Maybe show the first image
by default, then wait for a mouseover or something to activate the animated
gif.

~~~
codingdave
Agreed - if the author was trying to highlight the kinds of things available
on archive.org, it didn't quite work for me. Instead it just was a jumbled
pile of images...

Maybe slower images with a link back to archive.org and let people navigate
the timeline directly would be more appropriate.

~~~
bakztfuture
Hi guys, thanks for the feedback. I haven't actually done any guerilla UI
testing, I just shipped the code earlier today and went to bed haha.

I really want people to get "hooked" right off the bat on the homepage, so, I
will try to come up with a better solution later tomorrow. I was initially
gonna do mouseovers like above, but didn't feel that would work on mobile.

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nedwin
This is great.

Here is a list of 20 (now) huge sites from when they launched. Apple and
Twitter are particularly amusing.

[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/6125914/How-20-popular...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/6125914/How-20-popular-
websites-looked-when-they-launched.html)

~~~
mcintyre1994
Was Youtube a dating site?

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benpink
Sort of - YouTube started out as a Hot or Not with video.

"Chad and Steve agree that Karim deserves credit for the early idea that
became, in Steve's words, "the original goal that we were working toward in
the very beginning": a video version of HOTorNOT.com"

[http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1570795...](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1570795-5,00.html)

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bakztfuture
Hey guys, thanks for all your feedback. Great to hear all the interest! haha

Again, please consider donating to the Internet Archive here:
[http://archive.org/donate/](http://archive.org/donate/)

Enter your email here to get notified when new Startup Timelines are posted:
[https://docs.google.com/forms/d/12gf3IJkzIal7qUT8Ts7Peuu4HPe...](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/12gf3IJkzIal7qUT8Ts7Peuu4HPegISAvGOGtwb2IG2I/viewform)
I wanted to include it somewhere on the homepage, but didn't want it to get
too crammed.

I also thought it'd be a good idea to open source the background research I
used here:
[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ri8JZtBPNyofw91eL1Es...](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ri8JZtBPNyofw91eL1EshGMz-j9DzjaJ7BWPA9Kj00M/edit?usp=sharing)

I'm here now if you guys have any further questions!

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crisnoble
This is why I have started to integrate a screenshot step at the end of my
build processes.

~~~
bakztfuture
My friend also has his webcam take a selfie everytime he ships! haha it's so
funny seeing him run through the images of his different facial expressions
while working on a project

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tolas
This is awesome. I'd love to see more. Also a slider ability so we can
progress/rewind the changes at our own pace.

Really insightful visualization.

~~~
bakztfuture
Happy to hear! I would love to include that level of control in future builds.
It is on github, so feel free to jump in ;)

If you'd like to get notified when new timelines are added, enter your email
here:
[https://docs.google.com/forms/d/12gf3IJkzIal7qUT8Ts7Peuu4HPe...](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/12gf3IJkzIal7qUT8Ts7Peuu4HPegISAvGOGtwb2IG2I/viewform?fbzx=1613441065772899799)

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Yadi
This is rad! Yeah I've used [http://archive.org/web/](http://archive.org/web/)
few times for recovering epic embarrassing ol' landing pages haha :)!

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awwstn
For those who found this interesting, here's a similar blog post I wrote a few
weeks ago with some more examples: [https://medium.com/making-things-people-
want/the-ghosts-of-p...](https://medium.com/making-things-people-want/the-
ghosts-of-products-past-e2bf4d229622)

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fxx2
Really motivating, thanks! Also makes me miss the layout practices circa 2008
— a simple ~800px centered container, plain & simple. No responsive Bootstrap-
style voodoo, no fancy & bloated javascript extras.

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seanwessmith
I really like how when you click "how it works" on AirBNB's home page it
scrolls up.

[https://www.airbnb.com/](https://www.airbnb.com/)

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michaelmcmillan
I think it would be pretty interesting to see something similar for Facebook's
newsfeed.

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vigile_
Then you feel less complexed with outing a first version of your website! ;-)

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gxespino
This is great work Bakz!

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bakztfuture
Thank you Glenn!

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suyash
Great idea and execution, Internet Archive rocks!

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bakztfuture
Thank you, I couldn't agree more, I have always felt the Internet Archive is a
highly underrated resource!

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tropchan
Great concept, love seeing the timelapse!

