Navigation · 1990s-2000s
Splash Pages
The velvet rope before the actual site.
Evidence status · blocked no public source
Claim provenance
No exact digital-history answer is available from the evidence stored in this repository. Nostalgic or editorial recollection is not promoted to documented fact.
- Evidence trail
- No primary announcement, contemporary record, or version-specific archive capture is recorded
- Source review
- unknown · 2026-07-31
Missing primary, contemporary, or archival evidence: sourceName, sourceUrl, sourceIdentifier, authorityClass.
The velvet rope before the actual site. A short exhibit about splash pages and why it mattered on the old web.
What it was
Splash pages greeted visitors with a logo, animation, mood image, or enter button before letting them reach the real content.
Why people remember it
- They made websites feel like places with front doors.
- They were often slow, theatrical, and unnecessary.
- The impulse survives in landing pages, onboarding, and cinematic home screens.
What replaced it
Usually a platform feature, a private analytics dashboard, a cleaner app pattern, or a feed. The behavior rarely disappears; it gets renamed and absorbed.