Welcome to this little trip down the memory lane, but maybe not only!
Back in the 90s there was this habit of having a list of web links on web pages. This used to be very helpful to quickly find related websites, even more so in small specific communities, as the Atariscene.
The first remarkable link page I remember was provided by the ACF Design Team. It must have been 1996, that I discovered this page with its numerous links to Atari ST sceners and groups. For me it played such a central role as a starting point to the Atariscene related internet, that I still remember the old URL in parts today, 30 years later :-)
Agent-t's ACF logo - a classic
Around the same time we got the Dead Hackers Society-page. Back then still with a challenging URL: kuai.se-something and later wombat.ludvika.se/dhs/news.htm or something among those lines. I remember my struggle entering such a cryptic adress in the URL field of my browser each time. What should you do when you have no knowledge about bookmarks yet!
With ACF more or less leaving the stage, this page became the hub of the scene quickly.
There was a main menu with big blue buttons and a white font on top (Atari teenage flashback trigger warning!). Here you could find two buttons that lead to two sub pages for news: one for updates on the pages themselves and another button for the Atari Scene news in general. This was pretty confusing but after a few hundred visits you know your clicking path ;-) Those were the days. And also on the same DHS page, we ultimately found a big blue button to be pressed to reach the sub page with Atari Links.
Looking back to 1998 - the DHS main page structure looked like this - background tiles for web gourmets only
I was so flashed! All those links to famous people and groups only known from scrolltexts and demo credits could be visited and even contacted on the internet. It was a massive discovery. I would go back to those link pages, checking all the websites just for finding out what is going on in the scene.
It seemed suddenly everyone was fiddling around with HTML commands in text editors or sometimes with the help of little HTML-creator tools and created simple web pages showing their hobbyist activities. It was quite an euphoric mood, with the new possibilities and the chance of people sharing their knowledge in an open and uncomplicated way.
And maybe because of this experience, I also have quite romantic memories of those pages with their colorful, centered logos, cheesy background image tiles, huge "<h1>"-Headlines, blinking text, hit counters, "Atari web ring" and email symbols and download possibilities.
Atari Web Ring - weird, ugly, but sort of worked
A loud nostalgic "Hoorray!" to the days when an Atari text editor, a few gifs and CAB could keep you busy and happy for days. And these simple and light weight pages did their job!
Many of them were hosted at universities or other free hosting services. With the years passing, I often found it amusing how some of those pages were lost in oblivion for decades, remaining online long time after the creators left universities or lost interest in the hobby.
Of course, most of those fossil pages are gone by now, if not conserved by web archives / wayback machines, such as the old Lazer homepage or the Aura or Effect homepage.
But there are a few, gracefully standing, having the same classic look and feel throughout all the years. The Fuzion, Impact or Medway Boys websites are great examples for the old vibe. Just got to love this pure in your face style.
Yescrew's page is less colorful but another great examples for a fully functional and Atari-browser compatible website, performing since several decades now, and still being updated!
I may romanticize quite a bit here, but for a middle aged man, this simplicity and continuity has a calming and even majestic aura in these fast paced and ever changing times today </pathetic mode>.
Yet another classic: The homepage of the French group The Removers. A true pearl, and I mean it. Did you know those guys created a French Atari mag with software and hardware reviews? There are also awesome party reports with very interesting photos of the events on the site. There is also a link page of historical value. The page is in French language, but still a wonderful expression of the last phase of serious Atari computing - highly recommended!
Another rare find of a personal Atari homepage is First/Supremacy's website. It seems this site is online in an untouched form since 27 years! You find the typical content: proudly showing the Atari configuration with a photo of the machine or a list of scene affialates with photos even. An easy going hobbyist presentation - less likely to find in today's times of data protection regulations, AI and the likes.
For the true mid 90s Atari spirit have a look at the Atari page of Boub/Popsy team authentically crafted with CAB, 7Up and Papillon or the 2002 website of Elmar Hilgart, the father of Atari ROMport Ethernet adapters. There are many more lovely hobbyist pages as this one or this one. We also find commercial pages of the time as this Oakland based Atari computer shop or this list of Atari dealers set up by the US-based Yolo Atari Club from 1997 with the typical background image trickery.
One last example for a nice relic of the late Atari software market: the website of the formerly commercial, and since around year 2000 freely available and actually pretty impressive Atari Falcon Audio suites StudioSon and V-Trax from France.
Maybe you know some more of those classic URLs that still work? I just love this stuff! :-)
Personally, I hope those legacy pages won't vanish nor will chose the typical CMS layout path as almost everyone these days (well, Atariscne.org did, ahum...)! Like a time capsule, these old websites spread the charme of times when big companies haven't seized full power over the internet yet. Pages were simple but manifold and standards on content and layout were still to be defined. However one regular feature was found on most pages: the link pages that would let you browse on!
There are a few nice examples out there. Most of them are long deprecated, some are more or less updated, e.g. James Haslams Atari pages, this Atari-forum.com thread, Claus Brod pages or these awesome "info-coach" pages and many more.
Or just look at Jonk's links page which is probably untouched since decades. Most links are broken, but the list of links itself is of historical value. Key words like "FracIrc, Flinny, System Solutions, Rottengatter, Erik Hall, Draconis, K.Ellis, Stik, Anthill industries, or MuCs" may ring a bell for Atari users of the 90s.
 |
 |
Jonk's link page brings back memories of mid-90s Atari computing
And there still is the impressive link collection of Atari.org's pathfinder engine with over 600 Atari related links, unfortunately the engine seems to be not working properly since a while.
But for different reasons the "culture" of link pages went out of fashion: Links went broken after some time. New design concepts appeared. Or there were other technical and practical reasons, e.g. search engines taking over the job in a more efficient way. And even law-making came into play, e.g. with attributing responsibilities for the content of linked web pages.
All this probably made the concept of link collections appear less attractive and antiquated. While most people may not have cared much, I always found this a pity.
There was and actually still is very interesting Atari hobbyist content available. But these sites become more often difficult to find. Apparently search engines have different page ranking priorities these days. And with the odd road the modern Internet has taken, maybe niche communities like the Atariscene would benefit from link collections again?
Luckily it seems, I am not the only one with this attitude towards link pages. I found one exceptionally up-to-date page that stands solid as a rock: the link page on the New Beat website!
The New Beat's link page - hot dishes served for your daily Atari browsing needs
Possibly, this clean and modest page includes the most interesting and well-curated Atari link collection online these days. All links are logically sorted in categories like Hardware, Software, Games, Books and so forth. Basically, everything you need for a nice and extensive Atari coffee break! All links are up to date and come with a proper description which makes this also a good starting point in case you want to return to the Atari ST/Falcon world after some time off.
Very notable is, that the New Beat guys observe the Atari scene carefully and pay high attention towards the related topics. Sometimes they even mark, when there are updates on the respective pages or products that are linked to. In this regard, it's actually also a kind of news page. Awesome!
So, better sharpen your Crystal Atari Browser's bookmarking tool and get this page into your link collection! :-)
Thanks a lot for these great pages, Newbeat! ❤️
Ok, for now, I leave you with that. Enjoy your dose of Atari browsing on the "information superhighway" and feel free to post other interesting Atari link pages below :-)
Comments powered by CComment