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1994 - 2014
Yahoo Directory
“When finding a website meant opening a folder.”
- Birth year
- 1994
- Shutdown year
- 2014
- Lifespan
- 20 years
- Peak era
- 1994–2014
- Company
- Yahoo
- Category
- Websites
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What Was It?
Yahoo Directory organized websites into human-edited subject categories. Browsing through topics was an early way to discover the web, before a search box became the default starting point for almost everything.
A directory made discovery into a sequence of choices. Starting with a broad topic and moving into narrower categories offered a readable map, with human selection helping define what belonged in each part of it. A visitor could browse without already knowing the exact query to type.
Its retirement marks a change in the dominant way the web was navigated. The directory model depended on continued editorial maintenance, while the scale and pace of the web increasingly favored other ways of finding material.
Things You Probably Forgot
- The project began as Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web.
- Its categories were selected and organized by people.
The Story
- 1994 Yahoo Directory organized websites into human-edited subject categories.
- 1994 The founders’ collection of links grows into a navigable guide to the expanding web.
- 2014 Yahoo closed its directory in December 2014, ending the service that had been central to its original identity.
How It Died
Yahoo closed its directory in December 2014, ending the service that had been central to its original identity.
What Replaced It?
Memories
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