The world wide web hasn't been around that long - about 15 years, in fact.

But it is still fascinating looking at what websites used to look like and how much many of them have changed in such a relatively short time.

And I know just the website which will satisfy your curiosity - the InternetArchive: WaybackMachine, a project which allows you to browse through 85 million web pages from 1996 onwards.

You simply type in the URL (website address), eg http://www.lep.co.uk, of the website you wish to view and a list of years appears, with underneath the exact dates on which a snapshot of that particular site has been taken.

There are no entries for the LEP for 1996 and 1997, and - as you would expect - the nearer you get to the present, the more entries there tend to be.



However, this is not a precise science, so results vary widely and a search for the LEP produced more than 90 pages from 2005 - the most for any year to far - and shows nothing for 2008 so far, ending for some reason on August 13 last year.

You will notice for some sites that images may be missing or that the pages you linked through to just don't appear. This can be due to technical difficulties on the Waybackmachine's part or simply because the web page which has been snapshot no longer exists.

Websites can also be set up to prevent automated system from archiving their pages, files and directories, while site owners can simply ask for their pages not to be indexed ay longer by the Waybackmachine.

Regardless of any omissions or non-working pages, this is a free and fascinating site and illustrates vividly just how far the web has come since its invention (by an Englishman) in the early 1990s.

Happy searching!

Did you know that February 30 was once a real date in two countries?

And that you can find out exactly which parts of the world are in light or darkness at any given time?

The website you need to find the answers to the above is time and date.com, which provides facts and information on topics related to time and date.

It's a fascinating site - and also a very useful one if you want to find out things like times for sunrises and sunsets, or want to know the hour of day or night elsewhere in the world. The day and night world map, pictured below, displays daylight and darkness across the globe at any particular time and is well worth a look.




The World Clock includes time zones from many cities around the world and the Calendar has customised features according to country, language, year and other personal preferences.
 

Time and date.com was set up by a university student in Norway and actually celebrates its 10th anniversary on May 24.

So pay the site a 'timely' visit - you're guaranteed to learn something new and have some fun in the process.

It's not always easy knowing what to say if you have to make a speech at a milestone birthday or anniversary party.

The older the person in question is, the more difficult sometimes it seems to be thinking of something original - while also making sure you don't embarrass them or yourself in the process.

Well, Potato Academy is a "Nostalgia site for People Over Thirty Acting Twenty One, with news, sport, music, TV and film from the year you turned 21".

Not sure where the title fits in with the general theme (no doubt somebody will let me know pretty sharpish if I am missing something obvious), but Potato Academy is actually a very useful (and free) resource for which I and my sisters were extremely grateful when my mother turned 80 earlier this year.





Basically, with the use of a dropdown menu, you locate the year that a person turned 21 and a variety of categories (namely, UK news, World News, Films, TV, Music, Albums, Singles, Sport, Olympics, Birthdays, The World Says Goodbye and Memories) remind you what happened during those 12 months.

You can present it as a kind of quiz (for example, do you know who shares the same birthday as you? - year if not exact date) and it makes it look as though you have put a lot of effort into researching the facts (which of course you have by looking at this website).

One potential downside - it does not provide information for those born before 1926 or after 1976.

However, you need not need to register to use the Potato Aacdemy and you can contact the website administrator, Professor Spudd no less, with your own memories.

Whatever the reason, this is a website that might come in handy for a special occasion - or even evoke memories for you if you are - like me - older than 30-something.

Not that long ago, I was searching for a website which had a calendar containing the days of the year and any anniversaries, national days, etc, relating to specific dates.

It didn't take long (that's good web marketing for you) to arrive at a site run by a primary school in Kent, which seemed at first like I had arrived at the wrong destination (with all respect) for what I was seeking.

But this just wasn't any old school, as Woodlands Junior School, which is tucked away in a quiet corner of Tonbridge in Kent, has a much-visited and highly-rated website - and it is not diffcult to see why. It's very well laid-out, the navigation is excellent and it's easy on the eye. It's a lesson in simplicity and effectiveness for all those who have - or plan to get - their own website.





It has a massive section on British culture - with features on history, flags, economy, government, national anthems (with all six verses of God Save The Queen), the Royal Family, UK symbols and festivals and holidays.

I am informed that there are 11,500 pages of information in total - 1,500 of those about Britain.

Apparently, around 30,000 people a day visit the Woodlands website, probably about 29,999 more than read this weblog in a week.

It is a great resource, if that's the kind of information you are looking for - and fortunately I was.

The Woodlands website also has a link to games, new and old - the virtual fireworks display is contagious!

Have a look if you get chance - you'll have seen a heck of a lot worse on the internet.

Further to my entry about the BBC's iPlayer, ITV.com have what is for me an even more useful service - a live one.

Basically, you can watch any of the ITV channels - 1, 2, 3 and 4 - online; it is virtually in real-time being only a minute or so behind the television schedule.

It's particularly handy if somebody is watching something on a non-ITV channel on the television or if you want to watch two things at once, as I did when trying to view both Corrie on the web and Question of Sport on BBC1 on the telly though not sure I ended up really watching either of them properly!

With the ITV Video Player, you can view it embedded into the browser or as a detached stand-along screen.

If you've missed an ITV programme over the past month, you can use its Catch Up service. Like the BBC, there is a limit as to how long the archived programmes are available.

You can also view plenty of old programmes previously aired on ITV; for example, there are several episodes of Rising Damp which are accompanied by some text giving some details about the classic comedy's history, eg A pilot show of Rising Damp was made in the US, but  American TV bosses thought it was appalling and it never appeared.

The only real downside, from what I can see, is that you have to watch brief ad trailers to the programmes, but for me that's a small price to pay for a very handy - and free - online service. You don't get anything for nothing in this life.

Anyway, ITV's website is well worth a visit - especially on a boring TV night and, come on, there are enough of those these days.

Apologies for consecutive entries about the BBC, but I - and apparently many. many others - have started using a very useful feature provided by the Beeb.

The iPlayer allows you to see programmes (though not every one) which have appeared on BBC television during the past seven days.

You can either play them directly on the iplayer or download and store them on your computer for up to 30 days - if you have a Windows PC.



There is a Q&A linking from the main iplayer page which gives comprehensive information about how it works.

Traffic figures show that the service has seen a 14-fold increase in visits following its launch and first major marketing campaign (which probably led me to it).

It's a superb offering though it is actually something I would have expected from the BBC a year or two ago, what with all its resources.
 
But, as they say, better late than never!

The BBC has come up with its latest new-look homepage - and it's very colourful to say the least.

It has just been launched in a beta format as the Beeb celebrates the 10th anniversary of the official launch of its popular website.
 
The trial version can be accessed via a link towards the top of the BBC's current homepage though you can access it directly here.

The BBC say the new homepage will offer users - among other new features - a greater level of customisation.

 

It adds that the redesign "marks the first stage of the roll-out of new features aimed at delivering a reinvented bbc.co.uk that provides a world-class on-demand user experience".

 

Visitors can customise the range and detail of content on the homepage, and determine the layout of the page.

 

They can also receive feeds from blogs produced across the BBC, as well as localise news and weather feeds, and specify the number of headlines that appear.

 

For the first time, people can listen live to BBC Radio directly from the homepage and browse the evening's BBC TV schedules.

 

The new homepage is certainly bright and lively-looking, though for me the big picture on the right - of nothing in particular - is too large and dominating. The BBC say news is their main ingredient and then yet again make it a relatively small feature on their homepage.

Please let me know what you think...