Purple.com

Purple.com, commonly referred to as "Purple", was a single-page website created in 1994. It consisted of no links or text and its only content was a purple background.[3] The site also linked to the owner, Jeff Abrahamson, at purple.com/Jeff and Jeff.purple.com; his dog, Misha, at purple.com/misha, a site with instructions to contact Jeff if Misha was lost and found; as well as his rental property business in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he owned multiple properties for rent. The site was used for many purposes, both commercial and personal, over the years by Abrahamson. The site is notable as being the oldest known single-serving site.[4] As of November 2017 purple.com no longer displays its older content of a plain purple background, but now serves as a website for Purple Mattress.

Purple.com
Screenshot of the purple background on Purple.com.
LaunchedAugust 31, 1994 (1994-08-31)[1]
Current statusPurple Comfort now owns Purple.com[2]

Content

The most noticeable feature of the site was the main page with a purple-colored background. The site later added subpages, including FAQs,[5] a notification about abuse and spam,[6] a guideline about linking the site,[7] and guidelines on availability.[8]

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.[9] Over the years from 1994 through 2017, when Abrahamson sold the site, he used it for many purposes: novel, personal, and commercial, as stated above.

The site was launched on 31 August 1994.[1] From its launch to late 2006 the background colour was #DD00FF, resulting in numerous complaints that it was not actually purple.[10] It was changed to #7D26CD on 6 November 2006 based on recommendations.[11]

In November 2017, the domain name was sold to Purple, Inc. for approximately $900k.[12] As of June 2020, Abrahamson has hosted a similarly minimal website as a memorial, ISoldPurple.com.

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[13] and LetsTurnThisFuckingWebsiteYellow.com, a site which consists of a yellow background created by Charles Broskoski.[14] Randomcolour.com and notpurple.com are websites that generate a different background colour (chosen at random) when visited.[15]

The home page's minimal data size, obvious visual appearance, and unlikelihood of being already cached on a user's browser made it a go-to page for IT support workers to verifying internet connectivity or forcing a redirect to a public internet login page.[16][17][18][19][20]

In January 2018, theoldpurple.com was created as an homage to and replacement for the original, single-page Purple website.

References
  1. "An old whois record about purple". WHOIS. WHOIS. 31 August 1994. Archived from the original on 2014-12-23. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
  2. Silver, Elliot (6 November 2017). "Purple Mattress Upgrades to Purple.com". DomainInvesting.com. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 2017-11-06.
  3. Johnson, Paddy (12 May 2014). "Addictive Single-Serving Websites by 7 Artists". News.artnet.com. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  4. Arias, Ryan (1 November 2011). "Five Things you need to know about". The Tartan. Radford University. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
  5. "Single Serving Sites". kottke.org. Kottke.org. 8 February 2008. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
  6. "Abuse". Purple.com. Archived from the original on 2014-12-10. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
  7. "Purple Affinity". Purple.com. Archived from the original on 2014-12-09. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
  8. "Purple.com Availability Guidelines". Purple.com. Archived from the original on 2014-12-09. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
  9. K., Eric (24 May 2011). "Purple Reviews". Sitejabber.com. GGL Projects, Inc. Archived from the original on 2015-04-17. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
  10. Abrahamson, Jeff (2008). "Purple.com Frequently Asked Questions". Purple.com. Network Solutions. Archived from the original on 2015-01-06. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
  11. "Purple.com Frequently Asked Questions". Simplebits.com. SimpleBits LLC. 21 March 2008. Archived from the original on 2014-08-02. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
  12. "AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF PURPLE INNOVATION, LLC FOR THE YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2017, DECEMBER 31, 2016 AND DECEMBER 31, 2015". EDGAR. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Archived from the original on 2020-10-08. Retrieved 2019-02-07.
  13. "sometimesredsometimesblue.com". w3snoop.com. W3 Snoop. 2014. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
  14. 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.
  15. 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. Archived from the original on 2012-11-25. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
  16. Dundore, Tara (2017-02-03). "Connecting to the Internet for the first time". MainStream. Archived from the original on 2020-07-05. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  17. "Wi-Fi Access". www.rockvalleycollege.edu. Rock Valley College. Archived from the original on 2016-04-09. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  18. "NeverSSL | Hacker News". news.ycombinator.com. January 2017. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  19. "Techtales - Humorous Technical Support Tales: Tales from the Techs - April 2002". TechTales. 2002. Archived from the original on 2020-07-05. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  20. "Michael T.'s review of HughesNet". Yelp. Archived from the original on 2020-10-08. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
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