he would later say<\/a>. \u201cNot whether, in my view, you charged for content. The big fork in the road was publishing the content of The Times versus doing something else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn this case, \u201cdoing something else\u201d meant adopting the aggregator model, much like News & Observer<\/em> had done, or erecting a paywall like The Wall Street Journal<\/em>. There was even room in the market for a strong editorial voice to establish a foothold in the online portal race. There is an alternate universe in which the New York Times<\/em> went head to head with Yahoo! and AOL. Nisenholtz and The Times, however, went a different way. They would use the same voice on the web that they had been speaking to their readers with for over a hundred years. When The New York Times<\/em> website launched in January of 1996, it mirrored the day\u2019s print edition almost exactly, rendered in HTML instead of with ink.<\/p>\n\n\n\nJust after launch, the website held a contest to pick a new slogan for the website. Ochs had done the same thing with his readers when he took over the paper in 1896, and the web team was using it to drum up a bit of press. The winner: \u201cAll the News That\u2019s Fit to Print.\u201d The very same slogan the paper\u2019s readers had originally selected. For Nisenholtz, it was confirmation that what the readers wanted from The New York Times<\/em> website was exactly the same thing they wanted when they opened the paper each day. Strong editorial direction, reliable reporting, and all the news.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn the future, the Times would not be competing simply with other newspapers. \u201cThe News\u201d would be big business on the web, and The New York Times<\/em> would be competing for attention from newswire services like Reuters, cable TV channels like CNN and tech-influenced media like CNet and MSNBC. The landscape would be covered with careful choices or soaring ambition. The success of the website of The New York Times<\/em> is in demonstrating that the web is not always a place of reinvention. It is, on occasion, just one more place to speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nThe mid to late 90\u2019s swept up Silicon Valley fervor and dropped it in the middle of Wall Street. A surge of investment in tech companies would drive the media and publishing industry to the web as they struggled capture a market they didn\u2019t fully understand. In a bid for competition, many of the largest tech companies would do the opposite and try their hand at publishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1995, Apple, and later Adobe, funded an online magazine from San Francisco Examiner <\/em>alumni David Talbot called Salon<\/em>. The following year, Microsoft hired New Republic <\/em>writer Michael Kinsley for a similar venture called Slate<\/em>. Despite their difference in tone and direction, the sites would often be pitted against one another specifically because of their origins. Both sites began as the media venture of some of the biggest players in tech, started by print industry professionals to live solely online.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThese were webzine-inspired magazines with print traditions in their DNA. When Slate <\/em>first launched, Kinsley pushed for each structured issue on the website to have page numbers despite how meaningless that was on the screen. Of course, both the concept of \u201cissues\u201d and the attached page numbers were gone within weeks, but it served as a reminder that Kinsley believed the legacy of print deserved its place on the web.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe second iteration of webzines, backed by investment from tech giants or venture capital, would shift the timbre of the web\u2019s voice. They would present as a little more grown up. Less webzine, more online magazine. Something a little more \u201cserious,\u201d as it were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This would have the effect of pulling together the old world of print and the new world of the web. The posts were still written from Generation X outsiders, the sites still hosted essays and hit pieces rather than straight investigative reporting. And the web provided plenty of snark to go around. But it would be underscored with fully developed subject matter and a print sensibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Salon<\/em>, that blend became evident immediately. Their first article was a roundtable discussion about race relations and the trial of O.J. Simpson. It had the counter-cultural take, critical lens, and conversational tone of webzines. But it brought in the voice of experts tackling one of the most important issues of the day. Something more serious.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe second half of the 1990\u2019s would come to define publishing on the web. Most would be forced to reimagine themselves in the wake of the dot-com crash. But the voice and tone of the web would give way to something new at the turn of the century. An independent web, run by writers and editors and creators that got their start when the web did.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Previously in web history… Mosaic is the first browser to feature inline images, a capability that demonstrates the visual potential of the web. The first websites are experiments, created by larger teams and independent individuals alike. As hundreds of sites turns into thousands and tens of thousands, search directories like Yahoo!, and search engines like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":250104,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"art-direction\/history.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"sig_custom_text":"","sig_image_type":"featured-image","sig_custom_image":0,"sig_is_disabled":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"c2c_always_allow_admin_comments":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"History of the Web, Chapter 5: Publishing","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[18031],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":320971,"url":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/chapter-4-search\/","url_meta":{"origin":324929,"position":0},"title":"Chapter 4: Search","date":"September 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Previously in web history... After an influx of rapid browser development following the creation of the web, Mosaic becomes the popular choice. Recognizing the commercial potential of the web, a team at O'Reilly builds GNN, the first commercial website. With something to browse with, and something to browse for, more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "History"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/css-tricks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ebay-1999.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":251922,"url":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/websites-generate-svg-patterns\/","url_meta":{"origin":324929,"position":1},"title":"Websites to Generate SVG Patterns","date":"February 28, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"These aren't particularly hard to web search for, but just in case you didn't know they existed I figured I'd drop them here. I've used all three of these in the past and I think they do a good job of driving home how cool of patterns you can make\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/css-tricks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/HeroPatterns.png?fit=983%2C536&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":157837,"url":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/poll-results-sites-vs-apps\/","url_meta":{"origin":324929,"position":2},"title":"Poll Results: “Sites” vs “Apps”","date":"December 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Time to wrap up our last poll on how useful it is to distinguish between \"web apps\" and \"web sites\". The exact question was: Is it useful to distinguish between \"web apps\" and \"web sites\"? First, the data: 28% of people voted: Nope. It's all just the web. 72% if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":244360,"url":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/average-web-page-data-analyzing-8-million-websites\/","url_meta":{"origin":324929,"position":3},"title":"The Average Web Page (Data from Analyzing 8 Million Websites)","date":"August 15, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The following is a guest post by Catalin Rosu, who along with some colleagues, dug up a ton of data about the HTML content of web sites. This is the most recent study of its kind and wildly fascinating to see the results. I find it especially fun to compare\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":199930,"url":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/i-dont-like-our-companies-process-how-do-i-tell-my-boss\/","url_meta":{"origin":324929,"position":4},"title":"I don’t like our company’s process. How do I tell my boss?","date":"April 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A reader wrote in explaining their problem with the process at work. I'm posting the question and my response here, with permission. I work for an online marketing company. My boss (the founder) has a 4-week process for the sites we build: Week 1) Collect information Week 2) Build site\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":331369,"url":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/chapter-6-web-design\/","url_meta":{"origin":324929,"position":5},"title":"Chapter 6: Web Design","date":"December 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Previously in web history... After the first websites demonstrate the commercial and aesthetic potential of the web, the media industry floods the web with a surge of new content. Amateur webzines \u2014 which define and voice and tone unique to the web \u2014 are soon joined by traditional publishers. By\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/css-tricks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/batman-forever-flash-site.jpg?fit=1200%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324929"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/250104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324929"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":331017,"href":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324929\/revisions\/331017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}