Web developers recreate line-mode browser

A screenshot of the recreated line-mode browser. Click for large version.

Last month, a dozen highly skilled web developers descended on CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland, to recreate a key piece of web history: the line-mode browser.  The recreation enables people to step back in time and relive what it was like to browse the web in the very early days. CERN's Dan Noyes led the effort as part of the First Website Project, which is seeking to restore the world's first website, info.cern.ch. "So much of the early web is lost," says Noyes. "Recreating the line-mode browser is a step in the fight against this decay."

The line-mode browser emulator will be made available at http://info.cern.ch next month. In the meantime, you can read more about Noyes's quest to restore the line-mode browser in this opinion piece.