wm.nnov.ru was the website of a Nizhny Novgorod web design studio that operated in the early 2000s, first under the name "First Web Workshop" (Первая Web-Мастерская), and later as "Net Solutions Group" (Группа сетевых решений). In the header of its home page, the studio listed its city and a single contact: "Nizhny Novgorod, tel./fax: (8312) 35-80-16"[1]. The substantive snapshots of the site in the web archive date to December 2001 and December 2002[1][2]; by February 2004 the address was already serving a technical web-server page[3].

What the studio offered

The studio described its main line of work as "creating a full-fledged online presence for the client on the Web, including programming, and the design and structural development of websites — from small presentational sites to complex corporate ones," along with ongoing site support, as stated on the home page[1]. The studio declared its working principles to be "honesty, precision, and an individual approach to every client"[1].

Prices were placed right on the front screen, in a "Special offers" block. Development of a nine-page site was offered for 150 conventional units (у. е.) and recommended as "the ideal option for small businesses and organizations"; a unique design "in keeping with your company's corporate identity" started at 270 units; and a series of advertising banners cost 11 units apiece[1]. The slogan at the top of the page promised "the best prices, professional work, everything for the client's convenience"[1].

What the site looked like

The home page was built around two sets of links. The top menu consisted of the sections "WEB WORKSHOP," "PORTFOLIO," "SOLUTIONS," "NEWS," and "REVIEWS," while the side menu had the items "Services," "Technologies," "Prices," "About the studio," and "Company details"[1]. At the bottom of the page were utility links — "write us," "site map," and "to top" — along with a copyright notice dated 2001[1].

The contacts section reflects the communication habits of the era: besides the phone number with the Nizhny Novgorod area code, a pager was offered for contact — "Pager 30-30-30, subscriber 'Web Workshop,' around the clock"[1]. The order of work with a client was described briefly: after negotiations, the client would be presented with "a project with a detailed description of the possibilities for building and further developing your server"[1].

A change of sign: Net Solutions Group

Over the course of a year, the site changed its name without changing either its address or its content. In the snapshot from December 1, 2002, the header reads "Net Solutions Group, Nizhny Novgorod, tel./fax: (8312) 35-80-16," and the studio's title is given in two versions — "Net Solutions Group" and its Russian equivalent — with a monogram of three letters, N S G, replacing the former logo[2]. The description of the studio's activities, the list of principles, and all three special offers with prices of 150, 270, and 11 units remained word for word the same[1][2].

The contacts and the menu composition changed. The phone number in the contact block became "(8312) 35 00 67," a mobile number "8-2-903-99-33" was added to it, and a new item — "Auction" — appeared in the side menu[2]. At the same time, the copyright notice at the bottom of the page kept the same year but got a new owner name: "© 2001 'Net Solutions Group'"[2].

Place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet

The domain belongs to the nnov.ru zone, which by itself places the site within the Nizhny Novgorod Internet; its local ties are also confirmed by the city name and the 8312 telephone code in the header of both substantive snapshots[1][2]. The studio left no noticeable trace in local popularity measurements: it does not appear in the surviving samples of the Counter.nn.ru counter that underlie the Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating, and it is absent from the results table of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day vote in 2004, under either the domain or either of its two names[5]. By the time of that vote, however, the site was already no longer working.

How it closed

The substantive snapshots of the home page break off in December 2002[2]. In the snapshot from February 5, 2004, the address served a standard web-server test page — "Test Page for Apache Installation" — with an explanation that the site administrator had changed the server configuration and that there was no content in the directory[3]. The last surviving snapshot, from November 8, 2005, shows a hosting control-panel placeholder: a "Default PLESK Page" with two possible explanations — "hosting for this domain is not configured" or "this domain is not registered in Plesk"[4]. No information about the fate of the studio itself, or the reasons the site closed, has survived in the available archival materials.

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, 2001 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — Home page, 2002 (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — Home page, 2004 (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — Home page, 2005 (archive)
  5. web.archive.org — Results of the Day of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet vote, 2004 (archive)