ow can I obtain copies of previous versions of a web page?

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 15 Feb 2006 13:56 PST

Are you aware of Archive.org's "Wayback Machine"? Many (though not
all) webpages are archived here:

http://www.archive.org/index.php

http://www.archive.org/index.php

 archive.org (or wayback machine) is probably one of the better web
page history sites out there. Although it does not have every date
that you might want to see, it automatically checks websites, marking
the records down in their database.

 -However, browsing some sites might show some errors, and could make
surfing the site a little difficult. I have noticed in some PHP based
sites, the pages will often times bring you to current pages of the
website (up to date page under that URL).

Webservices.xml.com (http://webservices.xml.com/pub/a/ws/2002/01/18/brewster.html)

   -This site has a great review on how the wayback machine works,
along with many other aspects of the webpage history engine.


    To sum it up, archive.org is probably your best source of the
history of webpages. Be aware of the few errors that might occur, but
they are nothing major for your everyday simple information webpage.
Type in want inside the box next to the "wayback machine" logo, and
then simply click the button "take me back".

 I hope i offered some useful information and help for your question.

   -Ryan

Besides the WayBack Machine, many search engines "cache" copies of
webpages.  If you're looking for a page that has recently change,
search for the exact url in google and then, if google has a cache for
that page, the text "Show Google's cache of {url}" will be displayed
below the search results.

I believe that other search engines (yahoo.com, msn.com) do the same thing.

Isaac