Hotwired
|
Type of site
|
Technology news |
|---|---|
| Commercial | Yes |
| Launched | October 27, 1994 |
| Current status | Closed |
Hotwired (1994–1999) was the first commercial web magazine, launched on October 27, 1994. Although it was part of Wired Ventures, Hotwired was a separate entity from Wired, the print magazine, and had original content.
Andrew Anker, Wired's then Vice President and CTO, wrote the original HotWired business plan. On its approval in April 1994, he became HotWired's first CEO, and oversaw the development of the website. The initial launch staff included Kathleen Lyman, Jonathan Steuer, Howard Rheingold, Caleb Donaldson,Rick Boyce, Brian Behlendorf, Jeffrey Veen, Chip Bayers, Matthew Nelson, Justin Hall, Julie Chiron, Gary Wolf, June Cohen, Jill Atkinson, Will Kreth, Louis Rossetto, designers Barbara Kuhr & John Plunkett (Plunkett + Kuhr), Lisa Seaman, Sabine Messner, John Shiple, and Kirt Johnson. Over the next five years several other sites grew out of Hotwired (see below), most notably Wired News, Webmonkey, The Netizen, Suck, and the Wired search engine HotBot.
P + K created a very simple interface initially, to account for the early web's slow speeds and low resolution, with six icons drawn by Amsterdam designer Max Kisman. As web-use grew and faster download speeds allowed higher resolution, Hotwired's interfaces became more complex.
After several previous site iterations, HotWired 4.0 launched on July 1, 1997, marking the magazine's most comprehensive overhaul. The reinvention efforts were led by Executive Producer June Cohen, Executive Editor Cate Corcoran and Senior Designer Sabine Messner. The redesigned site featured Dynamic HTML homepage teasers, more focus on user-centric interaction and a simplified channel structure.
The site launched shortly before Netscape's browser, the advent of Time Inc.'s Pathfinder.com site, and the emergence of independent web magazines such as Feed, Word, and Salon. HotWired's initial business model was 'corporate sponsorship', which quickly led to the design of the 'ad banner' display areas still in use today. The first banner ad on the internet was an AT&T ad featured on the site in 1994. The first direct marketing focused ads were sold by David Hyman to Virtual Vineyards. Under the leadership of Rex Briggs, HotWired was the first to measure the effectiveness of online advertising, and among the first to attempt behavioral targeting and the first to apply real-time web analytics, known as “HotStats.”
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