This screenshot appeared on the One Terabyte of Kilobyte Age Tumblr today. It represents a page last updated late February 2000, which was very likely started the same week. The page is made in flash and is actually a typical intro of that time. There is not a lot to say about the site, because there wasn’t much of it saved, and because the flash file is not particularly interesting. What attracted my attention is the setting, the scenario, or, as interface designers say “global metaphor”: a movie theatre.

When in 2011 we designed the fictional Youtube of 1997, this was exactly the type of design we tried to imitate.

I remember this drive to go away from the page (paper) to the screen (cinema). It started already before broadband, dot.com and flash. Indeed it was always tried but never worked, because all this entourage required to transform the browser into a movie theatre was using up too many pixels, and there were too few available 20 and 15 years ago. Additionally, the “theatre” is neither scalable, nor scrollable. So, I remember those pages very well (not to mention my own attempts), but very rarely I find an example. Please tell me if you know one, of any age. (Templates for blogs, like the ones on Freewebsitetemplates, Templatemonster and Templatewire are less interesting.)