Purple.com
 Screenshot of the purple background on Purple.com. | |
Type of site | Single serving |
|---|---|
| Owner | Jeff Abrahamson[1] |
| Created by | Jeff Abrahamson[2] |
| URL | www |
| Launched | August 31, 1994[2] |
| Current status | Online |
Purple.com, commonly referred to as "Purple", is a single-page website created in 1994. It once consisted of no links or text and its only noticeable content was a purple background.[3] The site is notable as being the oldest known single-serving site.[4] As of November 2017 Purple.com is no longer serving it's older content of a plain purple background, but now serving as a website for the purple mattress.
Content
The most noticeable feature of the site is the main page with a purple-colored background. The site has since added subpages, including FAQs,[5] a notification about abuse and spam,[6] a guideline about linking the site,[7] and guidelines on availability.[8] Currently in what seems like a response to Purple Mattress whose domain is onpurple.com, Purple.com features an advertisement for Leesa Mattress on its homepage for eight seconds[9] (a number that has varied slightly during period of the Leesa ad) before the screen goes blank to a purple screen.
History
According to the creator, software engineer Jeff Abrahamson, the site originated from the difficult process of accessing and surfing the internet in its early days, similar to most early single-serving sites.[10]
The site was launched on 31 August 1994.[2] From its launch to late 2006 the background colour was #DD00FF, resulting in numerous complaints that it was not actually purple.[11] It was changed to #7D26CD on 6 November 2006 based on recommendations.[12]
It looks like the domain name has now sold and the purchaser was the mattress company.[13]
Impact
Some sites have been created as parodies of the site.[3] Some of the most well known, both created in 2007 are SometimesRedSometimesBlue.com, created by Damon Zucconi which alternates between a red and blue background[14] and LetsTurnThisFuckingWebsiteYellow.com., a site which consists of a yellow background created by Charles Broskoski.[15] Randomcolour.com is a website that generates a different background colour (chosen at random) when visited.[16] And notpurple.com.
References
- ^ "Purple.com, since 1994". Hacker News. 2014. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
- ^ a b c "An old whois record about purple". WHOIS. WHOIS. 31 August 1994. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
- ^ a b Johnson, Paddy (12 May 2014). "Addictive Single-Serving Websites by 7 Artists". News.artnet.com. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
- ^ Arias, Ryan (1 November 2011). "Five Things you need to know about". The Tartan. Radford University. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
- ^ "Single Serving Sites". kottke.org. Kottke.org. 8 February 2008. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
- ^ Abuse Purple.com Retrieved 2014-12-02
- ^ Purple Affinity Purple.com Retrieved 2014-12-02
- ^ Purple.com Availability Guidelines Purple.com Retrieved 2014-12-02
- ^ "purple.com/index.html". Retrieved 1 November 2017.
- ^ K., Eric (24 May 2011). "Purple Reviews". Sitejabber.com. GGL Projects, Inc. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
- ^ Abrahamson, Jeff (2008). "Purple.com Frequently Asked Questions". Purple.com. Network Solutions. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
- ^ "Purple.com Frequently Asked Questions". Simplebits.com. SimpleBits LLC. 21 March 2008. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
- ^ Silver, Elliot (2017). "Purple.com Domain Sold". Purple.com. Domain Investing. Retrieved 2017-11-06.
- ^ "sometimesredsometimesblue.com". w3snoop.com. W3 Snoop. 2014. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
- ^ Broskoski, Charles (13 September 2010). "xhibition and interview: WHITE, YELLOW, BLUE, AND BLACK, ONE COINCIDENCE, AND ONE OBJECT". permalink.gmane.org. Gmane. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
- ^ Nutzlos, Völlig (25 November 2012). "Das sind die sinnlosesten Websites der Welt" [These are the most useless websites in the world]. Kronen Zeitung (in German). Vienna. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
External links
Sometimesredsometimesblue.com
Letsturnthisfuckingwebsiteyellow.com
Randomcolour.com