In the early 1990s, text and command lines ruled almost everything, and browsers were designed with that in mind. The first browser was the WorldWideWeb, but the one that followed—without an official name beyond Line Mode Browser—had the advantage of being cross-platform.
There were no images or videos. Google would have to wait another six years. In fact, the Web itself was a strange concept for most people, mentioned only occasionally in specialized publications. Twenty years later, we have cats, social networks, viral videos, flame wars, commerce (legal and illegal)... but also science, technology, history, knowledge—not to mention the chance to remember with some fidelity what the Web was like back then.
The first browser was the WorldWideWeb. While it served the needs of its developers, it had a major limitation: it could only run on the NeXT platform, the same one Tim Berners-Lee used to create the Web.
The Line Mode Browser Simulation
Things changed considerably with the arrival of the first cross-platform browser, whose generic description is Line Mode Browser, and for which CERN has a simulation you can visit right now using modern browsers. They even went so far as to reproduce the sound of the keys, as if you were sitting at one of those old terminals. The official site also offers a shortcut to view current sites in the same green phosphorus text format on a black background.
How Navigation Worked
Although the conversion isn't always perfect, most of the time it works without a hitch thanks to the backward compatibility of HTML. The oldest tags haven't gone anywhere, and any that the browser can't interpret are simply ignored. So how did you navigate? Basically by using keywords or by following the numbers assigned to each link. This may be a simulation, but if you want a similar-aged browser that's still in development, you can download a copy of Lynx and install it on your system.
Without a doubt, this isn't something you'd use to browse the modern web, but it's a fun way to play with the past and discover how much technology has evolved in such a short time.
https://old.neoteo.com/los-navegadores-web-olvidados-navegacion-antes-de-netscape/
