Way Back Wednesday: BBC.co.uk

It’s Wednesday – so let’s go way back to 1997. Why? Well, if you aren’t already familiar, we travel back in time every Wednesday to unearth archived websites of old – and compare them to their existing versions (while looking out for remarkable changes, if any).

This week we’ve delved deeper into the archive and uncovered bbc.co.uk – with a number of interesting developments visible in the screenshot below.

While most changes are brought about due to advances in web development, browser technologies and social media influences of today, I always find it particularly interesting to scan the types of categorized content on display – and compare the two.

In this case, and many others, the array of categories and content displayed can be illustrative of the types of audiences the BBC were and are targeting – while also demonstrating the shift in brand identity focus. This type of shift will not entirely be clear by solely comparing the 1997 website with that of 2013 (variables aplenty!) but does become visible if you were to revisit the BBC’s other versions using the Internet Archive’s Way Back Machine – which I strongly encourage!

Click on the image below for a clearer view – and check out our Facebook page for more great stuff!