Welcome to CroLinks
The most comprehensive list of Croatian links on the Net!
Najopširnija lista Hrvatskih linkova na Internetu!
Ante Milardović, webmaster                 od 25. VIII. 1996.




Dragi posjetitelji,

Sa velikom žalošću obavještavam vas da je skinuta web stranica crolinks.com. Ako pratite stranicu ovih zadnjih par godina, primjetili ste da nisam stranice obnovio od 2014. godine. To nije radi malo volje, nego više radi malo vremena da posvetim ovom projektu.

Crolinks sam započeo u danima kad je internet još bio u djetinjstvu. Dok som pohađao lekciju o tzv. surfanje internetom dok sam bio na pedagoškom faulktetu rujnu 1995., odmah sam utipkao Croatia u tražilicu Yahoo. Bilo mi je rečeno da postoji “stotine tisuća web stranica na gotovo svakoj temi na internetu”, bio sam razočaran da sam samo mogao pronaći pet stranica.

Koristeći druge riječi vezane uz Hrvatsku, malo pomalo sam našao još stranica, i dok sam završio pedagoški fakultet imao sam linkove za više od 100 stranica.

Na povratak kući, odmah sam se uključio u internet. Pričavši s prijateljima o mojoj tražnji Hrvatske na internetu, počeo sam slati linkove prijateljima putem emaila. Shvativši da ovo nije učinkovit način za dijeliti te podatke, naučio sam dovoljno HTML-a da bi mogao napraviti web stranicu sa par desetaka hrvatskih veza, pa sam prijatelje usmjerio prema stranici.

Brzo nakon toga, prijatelji su počeli mi slati linkove da dodam. Dok su oni mi slali linkove—a i ja sam sam dalje tražio—gradio sam tu stranicu. Onda prijatelji su slali još linkova. Odjednom, iznenada, ljudi koje nisam ni znao su slali mi poruke sa molbom da uvrstim njihove stranice.

Linkovi su se počeli gomilati, pa eventualno linkove na toj stranici su sređene po kategorijama, i na kraju posebne stranice su bile napravljene za svaku kategoriju, i ostalo—kako kažu—je povijest.

Jako sam ponosan što sam imao ovu priliku služiti hrvatskoj internetskoj zajednici s ovom web stranicom preko 20 godina. Stekao sam mnoga nova prijateljstva, a možda i jedan od velikih uspomena bio je susret s mojim australskim posjetiteljima kada sam bio u Australiji 1998. godine. Sa email adresarom na web stranici bio sam sretan što sam pomogao mnogim ljudima da pronađu prijatelje koji su bili raseljeni zbog Domovinskog rata.

Uvijek sam bio ponosan na moje hrvatske korijene, i mnogi sati provedeni na CroLinksu nakon rata bili su produljenje mog rada od djetinjstva: promociranje Hrvatske, upoznati ljude sa Hrvatskom, i prikazivanje najboljeg od onog što Hrvatska nuditi. Internet tražilice su mnogo bolje nego u početku, pa ostavljam zadatak prikupljanja linkova njima. Dalje ću aktivno održavati i promovirati CroMusic, što je također na ovom site-u.

Hvala vam na 1,850,000 posjeta, hvala za sve komentare i pohvale, i hvala vam našu zanimljivost u Hrvatsku. Neka vas sve Bog blagoslovi!



Ante Milardović,

Webmaster

 

Dear visitors,

It is with deep regret that I inform you that the website crolinks.com has been taken down. If you have followed the site over the last few years, you will notice that it has not been updated since 2014. That is not due to lack of desire, but rather due to a lack of time to commit to this project.

CroLinks was born at a time when the internet was still in its infancy. While attending an in-service on how to surf the web at teachers’ college in September 1995, I immediately typed Croatia into the search bar on Yahoo. Having been told that there are “hundreds of thousands of sites on virtually every topic on the internet”, I was quite disappointed to find only five sites.

My search of other terms related to Croatia gradually helped me find more sites, and by the time I left teachers’ college I had about 100 sites bookmarked.

Upon my return home, I immediately got connected to the internet. Telling my friends of my search for Croatia on the internet, I started emailing links to friends. Realizing that this was not the most efficient way to share this information, I taught myself enough HTML to set up a web page with several dozen Croatian links, and then directed my friends there.

Soon thereafter, friends started emailing me more links to add. As they did—and as I found more myself—I built the page. Then friends sent more links. Then, to my complete surprise people I didn’t even know started emailing me with requests to link their pages.

The links started piling up, eventually the links on that one page got sorted out into categories, eventually separate pages were made for each category, and the rest—as they say—is history.

I am very proud that I had the opportunity to serve the Croatian internet community with this website for over 20 years. I have made many new friendships, and perhaps one of the big highlights was meeting many of my Australian visitors when I was in Australia in 1998. With the email directory on the site, I was happy to have been able to help so many people find friends who were displaced because of the war in Croatia.

I have always been proud of my Croatian roots, and the many hours spent on CroLinks after the war were an extension of my work since I was a child: to promote Croatia, to educate people about Croatia, and to show the best she has to offer. Internet search engines have come a long way, so I leave the task of collecting links to them. I will still actively maintain and promote CroMusic, which is also hosted on the site.

Thank you for the 1,850,000 visits, thank you for your comments and words of support, and thank you for your interest in Croatia. God bless you all!