Get ready for a major blast from the past. The Internet Archive just made it much easier to find all those classic, pixelated GIFs from the golden age of the early Internet. They rolled out a major update for GifCities, a massive search engine featuring millions of animations sourced directly from old GeoCities websites, which were shut down in 2009.
The best part of the new GifCities is the smarter search. Before, you had to guess the original file name, which was nearly impossible. Now, you can just describe what you’re looking for, and the search engine will find GIFs based on what’s happening in the animation. It’s the difference between finding that dancing baby GIF by typing “dancing baby” instead of “d_baby_01.gif.”
They also fixed a few other annoying things. The old site used an infinite scroll that could slow your browser to a crawl if you went too deep. Now, they use simple pages to keep things running smoothly. For extra fun, you can also create and share “GifGrams,” which are custom e-cards you can make using any of the ancient GIFs in the library.
For anyone who wasn’t online back then, GeoCities was a service that allowed regular people to create their websites. It was like an early version of social media, full of personal fan pages, photo albums, and, of course, tons of “Under Construction” GIFs.
It’s a fun trip down memory lane for anyone who remembers that era or a wild history lesson for those who don’t. Just a heads-up, the Internet was a wilder place back then, and you might stumble upon some not-safe-for-work content. Search carefully!
