The web changes far more intensely than we can imagine. One day thousands of sites are available to everyone, and the next they have disappeared almost without a trace. We say “almost” because there really are active projects that prepare and preserve backups of these lost sites. CachedView serves as a search engine for those portals, pulling copies from the caches of Google, Coral Cache and Archive.org.
Where the Copies Come From
When access to a page fails, whether through a classic 404 or another technical problem, Google offers the chance to visit one of the copies that were saved in cache. The copy may not be completely up to date, but if the plan is to use the text on that site, the backup is enough. When it is time to dig deeper, the main tool remains Archive.org, by far the most important project dedicated to the preservation of web pages and different types of software, including games for consoles and computer. The third option is Coral, which does not receive as many updates as Google's cache, but that does not make it any less important.
One Search Box for All of Them
Anyone can browse these sources individually without difficulty, but the CachedView portal unifies them under a simple search box. All the user has to do is enter the address and press the button for the service they want to consult. The only technical detail is that the address must be written in full format, that is, including the “http://”. And honestly... that's all. CachedView does not come with any other detail worth mentioning. The rest comes down to checking how good the sources are, and in general, their work is impeccable. If the page to visit is very old, Archive.org is probably the best option; otherwise, Google's cache and Coral can split the rest.
An Archive That Still Has Holes
In the future, it would be interesting if CachedView managed to incorporate other sources, or why not, start its own backup service. Even with all its resources, Google, Archive.org and Coral have holes that have not been properly covered. More than once I have wondered what will become of all the articles I wrote for NeoTeo. In a certain way, it is a relief to know there are backups out there, and that within a couple of decades, someone might find answers in that content.
