June 1996 ~ 30 years ago Nat Geo went ONLINE !

[Scott T. Shier]

"Lead the Way!" -- Nat Geo online

On June 20th of 1996, The National Geographic Society (mainly the magazine content) took the plunge into the world wide web this month, June 1996! It was a rough, primitive website in the early days, but now it is a highly sophisticated and interactive site.

The online presence of National Geographic has evolved from a digital archive to a comprehensive media platform.

It took some stumbles and missteps until they got their "groove". Initially the site offered mostly the content that was in their then-current magazines, such as NGM, Traveler, Adventure, World, etc., along with links to photo galleries, the NGM covers, and press announcements, and links to National Geographic Television programming. 

Here is a 1999 promo commercial the Society was using from the late 1990's into the mid/latter 2000's on their VHS + DVD releases (and presumably on the Nat Geo Channel too, at some point).

National Geographic website promo HERE

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Here is the full-page ad in the June 1996 issue of NGM announcing their website debut --->

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I also went into later issues during 1996, and saw these, in the July 1996 issue; one is a double-page ad spread, and the other is actually a department feature, "Behind The Scenes". 

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It's interesting to note that initially, https://nationalgeographic.com was available either by direct link as I just typed it, and/or Nat Geo Online was available through the then-ubiquitous CompuServe platform. 

Later, it migrated over to AOL.com, in similar access format & availability. 

• my personal little gripe-caveat here: (unfortunately, from December 2001 - December 2003, the covers of NGM actually had printed in white text on them, the wording "NationalGeographic.com - AOL Keyword: NatGeo" ) Tsk. 

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Meanwhile, it might be of relevance here to mention also the NGM Archive launch:

In the late 1990s, the magazine began publishing "The Complete National Geographic", an electronic collection (either on CD-ROM or DVD-ROM sets) of ALL past issues, in various updated box sets. After a protracted copyright dispute, it resumed full re-release and distribution in July 2009.

Starting in September 2015, the Society discontinued both the DVD-Rom sets, in favor of an online-site National Geographic Magazine Archive (of past issues) only, and the online The National Geographic Publications Index database/searchable.  Many lamented this. The site was at first glitchy, not user-friendly, and took eons to load pages and issues. Later, after the Fox-to-Disney transfer and transition, this online-digital NGM Archive underwent an overhaul and is much improved. 

One obvious difference here is that 1) you need to have an active subscription to access the Archive, and 2), you have to be on the internet in real-time to peruse and use it; unlike the CD + DVD sets when you could access them offline, and on your own PC, even if your subscription was lapsed. 

HERE below is the direct link to the NGM issue(s) archive site --->

NGM Archive - Every page of every issue since 1888

Now, back to the launch of Nat Geo on the world-wide-web in June 1996 . . . throughout the 1997-early 2000's, one can find myriad ad pages in the NGM issues regarding their web site. I only chose to show the first 3 primary announcements from June + July of 1996, above. 

        ~ Scott S. 

MAY 2000 NGM ---> 

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 . . . and from the March 2000 NGM, a representative sample of the website/online cue that was then being printed at the end of every Member's "Forum" section from late 90's - 2000's. 

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[Scott T. Shier]

Announcement (media information release) from nationalgeographic.com  on 10-January-2010 regarding its then-overhaul and re-launch of the NG website(s) --->

"Welcome to our new Website"

[Ziga]

A great look back at the pioneering days of the world moving more and more on-line. The sound of those dial-up modems came to mind while reading this. 

I'm really sorry that soon after our local edition of the National Geographic Magazine ceased publication, even the webpage went down (now you get redirected to nationalgeographic.com), taking with it the entire cover gallery, local stories previews and other useful things.

[Scott T. Shier]

Ziga, 

I am very bummed-out to hear that, I am sorry, That is a loss I can understand. Was/were the "covers' gallery" showing the covers for your local edition only?

The "mother" Nat Geo website is nice in tis way, but I do wish that the local, customized foreign nation version(s) & links were maintained. 

    - Scott 

[Ziga]

Scott, yes the local edition covers only ... from May 2006 (first) to December 2025 (final).