AOL keywords vs actually typing out URLs, the difference was night and day

Back in 97 I spent like 6 months just clicking AOL keyword buttons to get to sites. Then my buddy in Philly showed me how to type the actual web address into the browser bar. Total game changer. I could go straight to a site without scrolling through some random AOL menu that had 50 categories. No more waiting for the keyword to load either. Has anyone else remember how much faster it felt once you stopped using keywords?

2 comments

2 Comments

brians271d ago

The "total game changer" part hit me right in the feels lol. I had a similar moment when my older brother showed me you could just type "espn.com" instead of scrolling through the sports category in the AOL keyword menu. It felt like I discovered some secret cheat code. The keyword buttons were so slow because AOL had to load their whole directory first before connecting you. Once I got used to typing URLs, I never went back to those AOL menus unless I forgot the exact address. And you're right, it really was night and day.

lee.cole1d ago

My bookmark folder had a "sports" folder that I organized by sport, and I still remember the day I typed "mlb.com" in the address bar for the first time. My dad was convinced I was breaking the computer because he thought you had to go through AOL to get anywhere. It took me a solid week to convince him I wasn't messing something up. Once he saw how fast it loaded versus the AOL keyword loading screen with that stupid spinning hourglass, he started making his own bookmarks too. Feels silly now since it's just basic internet use, but back then it felt like hacking the system.