[SpookyZalost]

So I know this is an odd topic that's probably not really discussed anymore but at one point everyone linked their pages to everybody else, long before google, firefox, etc were a thing, way back in the ages of netscape, all the way up to the mid to late 00's.

in some places this culture still exists but way back then those links were typically done via buttons, usually designed by the owner of the site you wanted to link to.

see as it turns out back during the Geocities era everybody had their buttons be a standardized size but nobody could agree on who really started it, however a source from the time states that this trend started with Netscape!

yes that netscape, Microsofts original target for IE and bringer of many legal cases against them.

see netscape back in the day had their "Netscape now!" buttons which were greyscale links that advertised netscape and were very popular among users in the early internet.



so popular people stuck to the form factor for nearly 20 years as a standard!

here's an example of a blank template that was commonly used.



what was popular was to customize that template but always the image would be 88x31 px.  this standard allowed for neat rows and columns for links to other people's pages.

so what are your thoughts, is anyone here old enough to remember back when this was still a thing?

[Guardian]

I've always wondered!!! I've made them and acquired them in the past, but I never could figure out why they were that size. Especially the 31. Made no sense!

Thanks for the history lesson.

[SpookyZalost]

you know I have half a mind to see if darth will let me make a special makestation button

[Guardian]

you know I have half a mind to see if darth will let me make a special makestation button

Go for it! We could throw it up on the banner pages and make it public. They need some updating anyway. I need to go find that page again...

[SpookyZalost]

I'll whip something up when I get home, (currently at work), since I have the template, shouldn't be too hard

[Thomas]

Gosh. Reading this made me feel like it was 2005 again.

[SpookyZalost]

lol, feeling nostalgic thomas?

[Guardian]

Gosh. Reading this made me feel like it was 2005 again.

2005!? Try 1999! 

For me at least.

[SpookyZalost]

so how about this then?

BAM! a page with retro buttons of all sorts!

https://anlucas.neocities.org/88x31Buttons.html

[Darth-Apple]

Very interesting! Has such a retro feel to it. I don't necessarily miss the old days of the internet - we've come such a long way. But on very old forums or very old websites, you sometimes see the way things used to be in a sense. Back when websites had to look good on an 800x600 monitor. Oh, have times changed. :

you know I have half a mind to see if darth will let me make a special makestation button

Go for it! We'll put it in the footer if you make one!

[SpookyZalost]

I started working on one last night, I've got a nifty idea for one that's an animated gif with the M logo transitioning into the full site name.

heh 800x600 was a luxury at one point back when 640x480 was standard, and before that... well the days of text only isn't really relevant here lol.

[Guardian]

https://anlucas.neocities.org/88x31Buttons.html

A WALL of AWESOME!!!!

Nostalgic A.F.

[SpookyZalost]

I've done it!!!



this is a great first attempt at least lol.

I may be able to do an animated one later this week.

[Darth-Apple]

Looks good to me! I’ll add it to the footer sometime later today.

[SpookyZalost]

I went ahead and updated the link on my site to use the new link button, it blends in rather nicely.

[Guardian]

Love it! Nice, classic look. Nice work!

[SpookyZalost]

Thanks! ^_^

By the way I went ahead and made one for my site as well, I think it turned out nicely.

[Guardian]

Thanks! ^_^

By the way I went ahead and made one for my site as well, I think it turned out nicely.

Nice retro feel. I think we need to feature these somewhere.