Example.com Just Launched the Biggest Redesign in Decades

example.com is a reserved domain name set apart by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) for records purposes. It has been accessible as an example URL for developers and writers since the delayed nineties.

While the general messaging of the leaf has been accordant complete time, the ocular appearance has received multiple important overhauls.

In this article, we obtain a appearance at the latest changes as fine as the development of example.com complete the final 20+ years.

What changed on 28 September 2026?​

Until 28 September 2026, example.com was a fixed English-language page. The redesign introduces multi-language assistance using JavaScript, showing the satisfied in a new tongue all 5 seconds.

Example.com shows an clarification of the site's intent in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish. This is the English-language message:

This domain is for use in records examples without needing permission. This is not a service, evade relying on it for evaluation and monitoring purposes.

Along alongside introducing multi-language support, the JavaScript code additionally inserts an SVG publish icon.

How does the tongue passage animation work?​

The new location doesn't fair substitute the satisfied whenever showing the next language. Instead, there's a gradual opacity transition.

The opacity animation itself fair uses transition: opacity .4s;. But how is the character-by-character passage implemented?

Each character is wrapped in its own extend element, and all extend gets a slightly larger CSS transition-delay than the one before it. That method all character's opacity animation happens at a slightly distinct time.

Statement from IANA​

IANA provided the following declaration explaining the reasoning rearward the latest changes:

The changes we create to the location from time-to-time are normally informed by a desire to either decrease the general bandwidth demands of serving the site, or enhance its utility. At its bosom it is a placeholder for a location no-one have to be accessing, but we have historically showed a communication there to communicate visitors concerning why the domain is registered and how they may use it.

As it tends to be heavily trafficked, the general bandwidth is a key consideration, and to that end among the changes we made this week was to divided the leaf satisfied into a additional essential page, augmented by a distinct Javascript document alongside additional satisfied beyond that. Since most of the traffic to the location is automated it tends not to fetch the Javascript file, reducing general data requirements.

The essential intent of the domain is for use in documentation, specified as explanatory examples you may discover in instructions. We cognize that group may, for example, cut-and-paste a example configuration document and ignore to customize entries that merge an example domain, and we anticipate we get several secondary traffic from that. However, the domain isn't intended to be a broad intent endpoint for things akin preparedness evaluation so we do not advance that benevolent of usage. There is no necessity there is a HTTP assistance current on the presenter in command to fulfill its purpose, we fair run it as a courtesy.

January 20, 2002: What did the earliest type appearance like?​

According to Wikipedia, the example.com website launched on January 1, 1999. The earliest type accessible to perspective in the Wayback Machine is from January 20, 2002.

The earliest type of the website lone featured a catalog of domain names reserved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and IANA.

In the .com, .net, and .org top-level domains (TLDs), assorted domain names are reserved. These names are reserved from first registration, but to the degree they are already registered the existing registrant may renew them.

Structurally, the HTML used a array layout, alongside the ICANN logo positioned in the top remaining border of the page.

The server headers display that the location used Apache 1.3.22 at this point.

March 28, 2002: simplified messaging​

The archetypal type of the example.com wording we acknowledge today came 67 days following the archetypal accessible screenshot:

You have reached this web leaf by typing "example.com", "example.net", or "example.org" into your web browser.

These domain names are reserved for use in records and are not accessible for registration.

February 7, 2003: RFC 2606 citation added​

In February 2003, the satisfied was revised to contain a nexus to RFC 2606, the authoritative document for reserved top-level and second-level domains, so visitors could discover additional data on the website's purpose.

There was additionally a small specialized alter about this time: the server was upgraded to Apache 1.3.27 on Red Hat Linux.

July 30, 2010: .edu added to domain list​

The website afterward went unchanged for seven years. On July 30, 2010, a minor alter was made: example.edu was now pointed to the landing page, alongside the three former domains.

July 29, 2013: immigration and landing leaf redesign​

From January 2011, example.com didn't assist its own page. Instead, it redirected visitors to a leaf on IANA's website.

That changed on July 29, 2013, whenever the redirect was removed and example.com began serving its own leaf from the EdgeCast Content Delivery Network (CDN) alternatively of Apache, alongside a important redesign of the landing page. The new scheme used a rounded cardstock alongside an <h1> study 'Example Domain' and a new clarification of the website's purpose.

The viewable domain catalog was now gone, alongside a nexus to IANA's website for additional information.

October 17, 2019: font and copy changes​

A new update came six years following the biggest alter in the website's history. The layout remained the same, but the font stack was modernized to contain additional fallback fonts for devices specified as Macs, iPhones, and Windows PCs.

The copy was tweaked slightly, alongside 'is for use in explanatory examples' replacing 'established to be used' and 'in literature' replacing 'in examples'.

January 15, 2025: infrastructure switch​

Almost dozen years following the toggle from Apache to the EdgeCast CDN, another infrastructure alter took place: the Server header disappeared entirely. The response headers solitary don't disclose which phase was serving the leaf at this point.

A alter of provider about this period isn't surprising. EdgeCast had been acquired from Yahoo by Limelight Networks in 2022 and rebranded as Edgio. Edgio afterward submitted for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in delayed 2024, alongside Akamai acquiring choose Edgio client contracts.

October 9, 2025: redesign​

Later in 2025, the leaf was redesigned. The cardstock scheme was dropped, and the HTML was minified. The copy was changed to a additional straightforward message, again linking to IANA's website, alongside the nexus content changed from 'More information...' to 'Learn more'.

December 17, 2025: Cloudflare migration​

Less than a twelvemonth following the former switch, the infrastructure changed again: the location now serves from Cloudflare, as indicated by the cloudflare server header and CF-RAY header in the response. Whatever phase served the leaf following the January 2025 change, it has now been replaced alongside a Cloudflare-fronted setup.

June 9, 2026: favicon and HTML tweaks​

The next update, on June 9, 2026, brought no ocular changes. The lone HTML changes on the leaf itself were a favicon tag being added and the <p> tags being closed. The leaf now includes an bare favicon:

<link rel="icon" href="data:," />

This avoids a lot of unnecessary requests, as alternatively browsers appearance for a favicon at /favicon.ico.

Avoid relying on it for evaluation and monitoring purposes​

Example.com archetypal introduced an "Avoid use in operations" communication in 2025.

For developers, it's tempting to use example.com to inspect if the network is operating or test HTTP requests. The example server apt receives a lot of traffic through this.

However, as the leaf now clarifies, it's not a assistance you can depend on. When we appearance at our uptime monitoring data, we can see that all now and afterward the example.com server doesn't react correctly.

Using infrastructure that your institution controls can be additional reliable.

Conclusion​

Looking at the ocular timeline, we can see that changes to example.com happen sporadically. Sometimes a brace of small tweaks happen in back-to-back months. Other times the website remains untouched for periods of up to seven years.

We have been monitoring the page for multiple years in our community demo project. The Chrome UX Report (CrUX) data shows how leaf speed has changed complete time.

To study additional concerning how your website is performing, sign up for a liberated 14-day DebugBear trial.