Hmmm

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list of websites that replicate the feeling of the old internet because i hate the modern web and i hope it explodes:

spacehey: possibly the most well-known recreation of myspace and a much better alternative to friendproject (im xXGEKKO'S_FLESH_GRINDERXx if u want to add me! :D)

nuclearboom: relatively new website that's somewhat of a hybrid between myspace and youtube, its one of my personal favs and it deserves way more attention and support

neocities: website where you can make your own webpage from scratch- already pretty well known by now but putting it here anyways

vistaserv: similar to neocities, but with a more geocities/web 1.0 feel to it- another personal fav :D

dreamwidth: website like the old livejournal layout, still trying to figure out how to navigate it but it looks super neat

blips: recreation of twitter from 2009, its pretty simple and still being worked on- but it has a lot of potential ^_^

bitview: video sharing site that's super faithful to the old youtube layout! (there's also vidlii but honestly i dont recommend it)

feel free to add on!!

moodboard for cute girls 🤩

beginner’s guide to the indie web

“i miss the old internet” “we’ll never have websites like the ones from the 90s and early 2000s ever again” “i’m tired of social media but there’s nowhere to go”

HOLD ON!

personal websites and indie web development still very much exist! it may be out of the way to access and may not be the default internet experience anymore, but if you want to look and read through someone’s personally crafted site, or even make your own, you can still do it! here’s how:

use NEOCITIES! neocities has a built in search and browse tools to let you discover websites, and most importantly, lets you build your own website from scratch for free! (there are other ways to host websites for free, but neocities is a really good hub for beginners!)

need help getting started with coding your website? sadgrl online has a section on her website dedicated to providing resources for newbie webmasters!

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) are the core of what all websites are built on. many websites also use JS (JavaScript) to add interactive elements to their pages. w3schools is a useful directory of quick reference for pretty much every HTML/CSS/JS topic you can think of.

there is also this well written and lengthy guide on dragonfly cave that will put you step by step through the basics of HTML/CSS (what webpages are made from), if that’s your sort of thing!

stack overflow is every programmer’s hub for asking questions and getting help, so if you’re struggling with getting something to look how you want or can’t fix a bug, you may be able to get your answer here! you can even ask if no one’s asked the same question before.

websites like codepen and jsfiddle let you test HTML/CSS/JS in your browser as you tinker with small edits and bugfixing.

want to find indie websites outside the scope of neocities? use the search engine marginalia to find results you actually want that google won’t show you!

you can also use directory sites like yesterweb’s link section to find websites in all sorts of places.

if you are going to browse the indie web or make your own website, i also have some more personal tips as a webmaster myself (i am not an expert and i am just a small hobbyist, so take me with a grain of salt!)

if you are making your own site:

get expressive! truly make whatever you want! customize your corner of the internet to your heart’s content! you have left the constrains of social media where every page looks the same. you have no character limit, image limit, or design limit. want to make an entire page or even a whole website dedicated to your one niche interest that no one seems to be into but you? go for it! want to keep a public journal where you can express your thoughts without worry? do it! want to keep an art gallery that looks exactly how you want? heck yeah! you are free now! you will enjoy the indie web so much more if you actually use it for the things you can’t do on websites like twitter, instead of just using it as a carrd bio alternative or a place to dump nostalgic geocities gifs.

don’t overwhelm yourself! if you’ve never worked with HTML/CSS or JS before, it may look really intimidating. start slow, use some guides, and don’t bite off more than you can chew. even if your site doesn’t look how you want quite yet, be proud of your work! you’re learning a skill that most people don’t have or care to have, and that’s pretty cool.

keep a personal copy of your website downloaded to your computer and don’t just edit it on neocities (or your host of choice) and call it a day. if for some reason your host were to ever go down, you would lose all your hard work! and besides, by editing locally and offline, you can use editors like vscode (very robust) or notepad++ (on the simpler side), which have more features and is more intuitive than editing a site in-browser.

you can use ctrl+shift+i on most browsers to inspect the HTML/CSS and other components of the website you’re currently viewing. it’ll even notify you of errors! this is useful for bugfixing your own site if you have a problem, as well as looking at the code of sites you like and learning from it. don’t use this to steal other people’s code! it would be like art theft to just copy/paste an entire website layout. learn, don’t steal.

don’t hotlink images from other sites, unless the resource you’re taking from says it’s okay! it’s common courtesy to download images and host them on your own site instead of linking to someone else’s site to display them. by hotlinking, every time someone views your site, you’re taking up someone else’s bandwidth.

if you want to make your website easily editable in the future (or even for it to have multiple themes), you will find it useful to not use inline CSS (putting CSS in your HTML document, which holds your website’s content) and instead put it in a separate CSS file. this way, you can also use the same theme for multiple pages on your site by simply linking the CSS file to it. if this sounds overwhelming or foreign to you, don’t sweat it, but if you are interested in the difference between inline CSS and using separate stylesheets, w3schools has a useful, quick guide on the subject.

visit other people’s sites sometimes! you may gain new ideas or find links to more cool websites or resources just by browsing.

if you are browsing sites:

if the page you’re viewing has a guestbook or cbox and you enjoyed looking at the site, leave a comment! there is nothing better as a webmaster than for someone to take the time to even just say “love your site” in their guestbook.

that being said, if there’s something on a website you don’t like, simply move on to something else and don’t leave hate comments. this should be self explanatory, but it is really not the norm to start discourse in indie web spaces, and you will likely not even be responded to. it’s not worth it when you could be spending your time on stuff you love somewhere else.

take your time! indie web doesn’t prioritize fast content consumption the way social media does. you’ll get a lot more out of indie websites if you really read what’s in front of you, or take a little while to notice the details in someone’s art gallery instead of just moving on to the next thing. the person who put labor into presenting this information to you would also love to know that someone is truly looking and listening.

explore! by clicking links on a website, it’s easy to go down rabbitholes of more and more websites that you can get lost in for hours.

seeking out fansites or pages for the stuff you love is great and fulfilling, but reading someone’s site about a topic you’ve never even heard of before can be fun, too. i encourage you to branch out and really look for all the indie web has to offer.

i hope this post helps you get started with using and browsing the indie web! feel free to shoot me an ask if you have any questions or want any advice. <3

websites i like

ill try to continually update this

https://en.picmix.com/ blingee alternative

http://www.mazeguy.net/smilies.html a collection of smiley faces and pixels

https://www.internetbumperstickers.com/frontbumper/ bumper stickers

https://openings.moe/ anime opening database (contains nsfw/hentai material, 18+)

https://pixelcanvas.io/@-179,-22 online collaborative pixel art

https://excalidraw.com/ another online whiteboard

https://www.my90stv.com/ hosts a bunch of 90s tv, including cartoons

https://kidpix.app/ kidpix in browser

https://wiby.me/ search engine for the old web

https://poolsuite.net/ 90s inspired radio

https://vole.wtf/ a collection of silly games

https://doodad.dev/dither-me-this/ online dithering tool

http://www.blog-switch.com/ a ton of cute effects for blogs

https://www.beepbox.co/ in browser music tool, great for chiptune

https://www.404pagefound.com/ a collection of vintage websites that are still active

http://www.phocks.org/stumble/creepy/ a list of the creepiest wikipedia articles

https://everynoise.com/engenremap.html a virtual map of music genres that you can preview, great for finding new sounds

https://littlealchemy.com/ a game about combining elements

https://play2048.co/ a game about combing numbers

https://www.retrocrush.tv/ free retro anime streaming site

http://elouai.com/candybar5/dress-up-girls.php anime inspired dress up game

https://derpy.tv/ a 24/7 hour livestream of mlp fim

https://tss.asenheim.org/ play pc-98 visual novels in browser

https://anilinks.neocities.org/ collection of anime sites, including personal and fan sites

http://panther.audio/ endless music recommendations based off of your taste

https://mynoise.net/noiseMachines.php create your own background noise

https://www.glitter-graphics.com/ old school glitter graphics

https://learn-anything.xyz/ finds the best ways to learn new skills

https://sandspiel.club/# an in browser sandbox

Not platonic and not romantic but a secret third thing (commitment to the bit)