Web Design
1378 sites
http://contemporary-home-computing.org/RUE
A long-form critical essay by Olia Lialina, researcher and digital folklore advocate, examining how UX design and Web 2.0 ideology have progressively alienated users from their computers and the open web. Drawing on interface theory, military surveillance technology, and the history of personal home pages, the piece traces how 'rich user experience' became a mechanism of control rather than empowerment.
https://censorine.atabook.org/
The guestbook for censorine's personal website, where visitors leave warm messages praising her creativity, beautiful thoughts, and inspiring online presence. Comments suggest the main site is a visually expressive, art-forward personal page that has earned a dedicated following in the old-web community.
https://hyperorg.com/2020/02/26/my-2004-blogroll
David Weinberger's long-running blog 'Joho the Blog' features a nostalgic post reconstructing his 2004 blogroll, complete with reflections on how blogrolls functioned as early social networks in the pre-Facebook blogosphere. The post offers a fascinating time capsule of early blogging culture, linking to archived versions of prominent early bloggers like Cory Doctorow, Dan Gillmor, and Tim Bray via the Internet Archive.
https://pxxels.neocities.org/
The landing page for pxxels, a personal Neocities site by a creator known as px, featuring thoughtful accessibility options including dark/light mode toggling, two font choices, and tab navigation support. The site emphasizes inclusive design details like alt text for images and readable CSS grid layouts, hinting at a creator genuinely invested in the craft of building personal web spaces.
https://viggy.ayoni.net/
Viggy (also known as Ayoni) has built a quirky personal corner of the web complete with a virtual pet tamagotchi, an RSS feed, and an invitation to join the 'ViggyClub.' The site has a playful old-web aesthetic with custom buttons, badges, and a cheeky title aimed at IT admins.
https://lukescabin.neocities.org/
Luke's Cabin is a charming early-stage personal site where creator Luke blogs, shares photos, and experiments with HTML from scratch as a self-taught hobbyist. The site's self-deprecating humor and old-web aesthetic make it a relatable snapshot of someone just starting to carve out their corner of the internet.
https://denmchenry.com/
Den McHenry is a front-end developer and self-described digital hermit who makes websites, draws cartoons for his kids and coworkers, and enjoys creator-owned comics and indie rock. The site serves as a personal hub linking out to his Codepen, GitHub, Pixelfed, and webcomics alongside participation in several indie webrings.
https://webring.nerdcore.net/
A webring dedicated to nerdcore, the hip-hop subgenre celebrating geek culture, gaming, and internet life. The site provides code for members to embed the ring on their own pages and connect with other nerdcore-themed sites.
https://naes.tech/htmlun
h.t.m.lun is a minimalist old-web style site featuring ASCII art and a sparse, cryptic aesthetic built almost entirely from plain text and pre-formatted content. Its near-empty structure and moon symbol branding give it the feel of an experimental or artistic web project.
https://bugboy.online/
Verdronic2000 is a sparse, stylized personal homepage with a retro-web aesthetic and minimal visible content beyond its bold title and decorative imagery. The site appears to be a work-in-progress or intentionally minimal landing page with an old-internet personality.