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8 Resources to See Any Website's Past Versions
8 Resources to See Any Website's Past Versions
Do you want to view a previous version of the amazing website? Do you need to locate a website or article that is no longer accessible? The method is as follows. Finding out how to access older versions of websites can be useful, whether you are just curious to see them or need to locate information that is no longer available online. There are still many resources available to travel back in time and visit older versions of websites where it is feasible, even though not every website has been stored for future access.
8 Resources to See Any Website's Past Versions
1/. Time Travel Memorabilia
Memento Time Travel aggregates web archives, allowing you to browse historical web pages and take a trip down memory lane. You are prompted by Memento to enter any URL and a previous time. After that, it looks through dozens of online archives, including the ones already stated, for the desired webpage and displays the one that is closest to the date that was entered. You can embed the web page as HTML in addition to viewing the snapshot. With the help of a Chrome extension called Memento Time Travel, you can right-click on any website and view archives. All of the web content is being preserved and made available via these web archives with remarkable success. Web archives, nevertheless, are nonetheless vulnerable to disappearance. Thus, if you have discovered any old
2/. Stanford Portal for Web Archives
The Stanford online library Portal is a straightforward program that offers a vast library of online pages that have been saved throughout time. You may locate previous iterations of websites by simply pasting their URL. Additionally, you have the option to provide a date range. Similar to Wayback Machine, the website displays a calendar and timeline with all of the captures highlighted. To view the next or previous capture, select any version of the recorded page and use the arrow buttons (located in the top-right corner).
3/. Wayback Machine
An excellent resource for locating archived web pages is Wayback Machine. It is an initiative by Internet Archive, a nonprofit collection of books, movies, software, and web pages. Wayback Machine, which was established in 1996, routinely takes and stores screenshots of thousands of websites. The astounding 866 billion web pages that are currently hosted on the website serve as a superb example of how nothing is ever removed from the internet.
Any website can be found in its archive by entering its URL into the Wayback Machine's search window. After that, the application displays a timeline year by year with black lines denoting the times at which the photographs were taken.
The precise date and time of the screenshot are displayed on the calendar that is located beneath the timeline.
Move the pointer over the highlighted date and select the time to see the snapshot.
It is highly unlikely that one could recall the precise URL of a website that was active years ago. Therefore, you can utilize Advanced Search to find the website by keywords if you can not remember the URL. Wayback Machine is also available as a mobile application and browser plugin for users who frequently need to travel back in time.
You can use the Save Now function on the Wayback Machine to request that any webpage—or its current content—be archived in case you are afraid of losing it in the future. This program can also be used to view web pages with blurry content.
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| 8 Resources to See Any Website's Past Versions |
OldWeb.today is more than just a repository for historical web content. This website primarily retrieves archives from the Internet Archive and uses them to transport users back to the early days of the internet by simulating outdated browsers.
You can also use this website to use outdated browsers to explore the live web. A variety of Navigator, Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Mosaic versions are among these browsers. Perhaps because it promises to revive the internet's early days, the results frequently take a while to load. However, it is a useful website for surfing archives, going back to nostalgic 90s websites, or teaching your children how challenging browsing was in the past.
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| 8 Resources to See Any Website's Past Versions |
Archive.today's uncomplicated homepage conceals a vast collection of webpages that have been preserved over time. Any website can be viewed in its earlier iteration by searching for it on archive.today, which will show you all of the website's screenshots arranged in reverse chronological order.
The application also provides a variety of search operators to aid in refining your results. The best part is that you can share the webpage and download it as a ZIP file. You can also request the program for recording and saving any webpage for later use, similar to Wayback Machine. Its collection of preserved webpages is not as extensive as that of the Internet Archive, but it can nonetheless assist you in finding material that is no longer accessible or unearthing hidden treasures on the web. It also has a useful Chrome addon.
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| 8 Resources to See Any Website's Past Versions |
The official US Congress archive, the Library of Congress, keeps a vast collection of books, newspapers, photos, websites, and other materials. By preserving all online content, the Web Archive initiative offers scholars a dependable way to access web archives. On its Web Archives website, a timeline and calendar can be found by searching any URL. The Wayback Machine and the results page resemble each other a lot. The Previous and Next buttons allow you to view other photos and open any old webpage in a new window.
7/. Search Engines Cached Pages
Search engine cached pages allow you to see the comparatively updated version of any website.
Regretfully, Google stopped adding links to cached content to their search results page as of February 2024. However, you can include cache: before the URL in the address bar if you are using Chrome and know exactly which URL's cached version you want to view (for example, cache:makeuseof.com).
In this manner, Google will display the website's cached version rather than its current version.
Use alternative search engines, such as Bing or Yahoo, to find the desired page. Then, select Cached by clicking the drop-down arrow next to the URL of the result. The most recent cached version of the page will then be shown by the search engine rather than the current one.
Be aware that any link on the page that has been cached will direct you to the live internet. For this, you can also use the Google Cache viewing tools.
8/. Web Cache Viewer
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| 8 Resources to See Any Website's Past Versions |
Viewing older versions of websites is considerably easier with this addon. To view the previous version of a website, simply navigate to it, perform right-click on the screen, and select Web Cache Viewer. The last cached page appears in a new window that is opened by the extension.
This plugin makes it simple to see websites that have been cached, even though it takes snapshots from Internet Archive and Google Cache and does not keep any records of its own.
