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This page reminds me of the old web. I kind of miss it, auto-playing MIDI songs and custom cursors and all. I'll take that over having to wade through Reddit 1

This page reminds me of the old web. I kind of miss it, auto-playing MIDI songs and custom cursors and all. I'll take that over having to wade through Reddit 12 times out of 10.

walthamstow 3y ago
It's been a long time since I had the sensation of going from a site with a brightly/strongly coloured background to another on white/beige and my eyes not being able to handle it. I really quite enjoyed it.
Semaphor 3y ago
0 times out of ten for me. First I blocked the annoying cat, then I got to the bottom, was assaulted by blinking buttons and decided I didn’t need to know what else they were saying anyway.
- ceejayoz 3y ago
  You would not have enjoyed the late 90s.
  - Semaphor 3y ago
    It was okay back then, I was young and didn’t know you could design websites that are easier on the eyes.
- cushpush 3y ago
  Oh man, never visit Tumblr
  - Semaphor 3y ago
    That’s actually not as bad, as it’s usually just some big meme gifs that I can disable with my animation blocker extension.
- pc86 3y ago
  Oh my, assaulted? By that single blinking icon? I hope you're ok.
  - rejectfinite 3y ago
    Yet everyone on HN complains about ads Yes I blocked it with ublock
    - OkayPhysicist 3y ago
      Because at the end of the day, the problem with ads isn't that they're annoying, or get in the way, or are garish, or whatever else. The problem with ads is that they are ads. They're an overt attempt to hijack your attention implant ideas in your head, ideas that are antithetical to your own wellbeing. A little cat chasing my cursor is just plain fun. No malice involved.
      - Semaphor 3y ago
        > A little cat chasing my cursor is just plain fun. No malice involved. There’s a browser setting, "prefers reduced motion" for accessibility reason. And yes, I have that enabled.
        deletescape 3y ago
        https://crimew.gay/notice/AVXaTbTamC92MLk1ei https://crimew.gay/notice/AVXaTbTamC92MLk1ei the cat following the cursor should now apparently be properly disabled with the reduced motion acessibility setting
      - rejectfinite 3y ago
        I decide what is annoying or not for myself.
  - supriyo-biswas 3y ago
    Interestingly, had this complaint been about an ad, parent would have been upvoted with hundreds of comments agreeing with them. In other words, what OP is trying to say is that websites should be designed with the users goals in mind, and IMO it's fair to say that this website wasn't designed that way.
- phoe-krk 3y ago
  Have you tried Firefox Reader Mode? It renders this website (and a lot of others) without a lot of distractions.
  - Semaphor 3y ago
    I should remember to use that more often …
Waterluvian 3y ago
Other than the colours being difficult to read, I really enjoy this webpage. Now I want to go demake mine.
boomboomsubban 3y ago
As the creator was born in 1999, it's interesting to me because she's nostalgic for a period she did not fully experience. It's something I did, and it's neat yet strange to see it being done to a part of my past.
- lopekaa 3y ago
  [flagged]
- akritrime 3y ago
  I am in a similar age range and I am drifting towards this aesthetic. I think it's the counterculture of the increasingly sleek websites, with their overcomplicated 3D animations. Not saying either is better than the other, just it is the opposite end of the spectrum and way of still having fun when creating a website while making it feel personal.
- serf 3y ago
  it reminds me of the phenomena of parodying 'I Love Lucy!'. Even though it hasn't seen new episodes since 1957 it is included or mentioned in some way in nearly every popular media. The constant revitalization of the parody through new works ensures that the future will also include some mention. I think 90s aesthetic/internet-culture is a bit like that -- the projects that include those themes beget new similar projects in the future as long as they have some level of audience exposure.
- joshmanders 3y ago
  This is common among the younger people joining the internet. An the creator of SpaceHey.com was nostalgic for the days of old social media that happened when he was too young to experience it. Add me if you have a SpaceHey account! https://spacehey.com/josh https://spacehey.com/josh
  - BoxOfRain 3y ago
    I have a soft spot a mile wide for SpaceHey, there's just something about the whole idea that's really nice. I'm not sure how much of it is because building a whole social media platform out of nostalgia is a very hacker-like thing to do and how much of it is just because it's nice to see a social media platform that's not so aggressively monetised and manipulative but either way I'm really happy it exists.
morkalork 3y ago
They were born in 1999, so it's more like what a new generation's impression of what the old web was like.
- waboremo 3y ago
  You don't really have to know what specific year they were born in, the refusal to capitalize is a dead giveaway they did not experience that time at all. Anybody of that time period would be embarrassed to do so on a public site. Kind of funny how we carry these different meanings to mostly meaningless things.
  - bink 3y ago
    Making advisories hard to read has been a thing since forever. Remember Gobbles? https://github.com/thinkitdata/GOBBLES/blob/master/advisories/GOBBLES-04.txt https://github.com/thinkitdata/GOBBLES/blob/master/advisorie...
    - waboremo 3y ago
      Very true, trends after all come and go. Specifically about this style though, I feel it fits right into the blog series about "domestic cozy"[1]. It aims to be exactly that, imply super casual/low effort tone, make it feel a bit more personal, and simultaneously about ignoring social traditions that feel redundant to them. Like all trends, it takes effort to follow, and part of this is encouraging friends to turn off auto-capitalization on your phone. So I would say it's a bit more than just trying to make something hard to read, and focusing on that bit might make you miss the rest of their storytelling process! [1] https://www.ribbonfarm.com/series/domestic-cozy/ https://www.ribbonfarm.com/series/domestic-cozy/
  - mlyle 3y ago
    I had an all-lowercase website for a couple years on the early web. So did many of my friends. Archive.org snapshots are 2000-2001, but they'd been around before that in many iterations. Gah.. it's all embarrassing to look back on for other reasons...
Springtime 3y ago
You might have liked Lulzsec's website. They had an auto-playing audio clip of the Love Boat TV theme and an ASCII ship above text lyrics that replaced the word 'love' with 'lulz'. It was refreshingly amusing. Sadly archive.org doesn't have a copy from its live state—however I saved the home page at the time (MHTML ftw) and here's a video capture of it*: https://streamable.com/zon5wy https://streamable.com/zon5wy * Expires in one day Edit: for context Lulzsec were a hacking group a decade back responsible for various headline-making leaks and website hacks.
- nyc_data_geek1 3y ago
  Until they flipped Sabu
jabroni_salad 3y ago
You should check out the game Hypnospace Outlaw, which is set basically in a geocities-forum hybrid environment. It's basically a love letter to this old very personal internet.
rejectfinite 3y ago
Yes. But I also do not like people younger than me.
Izkata 3y ago
No one's mentioned it yet and knowing the HN demographic I'm just gonna say: Turn on javascript for the cat.

This page reminds me of the old web. I kind of miss it, auto-playing MIDI songs and custom cursors and all. I'll take that over having to wade through Reddit 12 times out of 10.

walthamstow 3y ago

It's been a long time since I had the sensation of going from a site with a brightly/strongly coloured background to another on white/beige and my eyes not being able to handle it. I really quite enjoyed it.

Semaphor 3y ago

0 times out of ten for me. First I blocked the annoying cat, then I got to the bottom, was assaulted by blinking buttons and decided I didn’t need to know what else they were saying anyway.

ceejayoz 3y ago
You would not have enjoyed the late 90s.
- Semaphor 3y ago
  It was okay back then, I was young and didn’t know you could design websites that are easier on the eyes.
cushpush 3y ago
Oh man, never visit Tumblr
- Semaphor 3y ago
  That’s actually not as bad, as it’s usually just some big meme gifs that I can disable with my animation blocker extension.
pc86 3y ago
Oh my, assaulted? By that single blinking icon? I hope you're ok.
- rejectfinite 3y ago
  Yet everyone on HN complains about ads Yes I blocked it with ublock
  - OkayPhysicist 3y ago
    Because at the end of the day, the problem with ads isn't that they're annoying, or get in the way, or are garish, or whatever else. The problem with ads is that they are ads. They're an overt attempt to hijack your attention implant ideas in your head, ideas that are antithetical to your own wellbeing. A little cat chasing my cursor is just plain fun. No malice involved.
    - Semaphor 3y ago
      > A little cat chasing my cursor is just plain fun. No malice involved. There’s a browser setting, "prefers reduced motion" for accessibility reason. And yes, I have that enabled.
      - deletescape 3y ago
        https://crimew.gay/notice/AVXaTbTamC92MLk1ei https://crimew.gay/notice/AVXaTbTamC92MLk1ei the cat following the cursor should now apparently be properly disabled with the reduced motion acessibility setting
    - rejectfinite 3y ago
      I decide what is annoying or not for myself.
- supriyo-biswas 3y ago
  Interestingly, had this complaint been about an ad, parent would have been upvoted with hundreds of comments agreeing with them. In other words, what OP is trying to say is that websites should be designed with the users goals in mind, and IMO it's fair to say that this website wasn't designed that way.
phoe-krk 3y ago
Have you tried Firefox Reader Mode? It renders this website (and a lot of others) without a lot of distractions.
- Semaphor 3y ago
  I should remember to use that more often …

Waterluvian 3y ago

Other than the colours being difficult to read, I really enjoy this webpage. Now I want to go demake mine.

boomboomsubban 3y ago

As the creator was born in 1999, it's interesting to me because she's nostalgic for a period she did not fully experience. It's something I did, and it's neat yet strange to see it being done to a part of my past.

lopekaa 3y ago
[flagged]
akritrime 3y ago
I am in a similar age range and I am drifting towards this aesthetic. I think it's the counterculture of the increasingly sleek websites, with their overcomplicated 3D animations. Not saying either is better than the other, just it is the opposite end of the spectrum and way of still having fun when creating a website while making it feel personal.
serf 3y ago
it reminds me of the phenomena of parodying 'I Love Lucy!'. Even though it hasn't seen new episodes since 1957 it is included or mentioned in some way in nearly every popular media. The constant revitalization of the parody through new works ensures that the future will also include some mention. I think 90s aesthetic/internet-culture is a bit like that -- the projects that include those themes beget new similar projects in the future as long as they have some level of audience exposure.
joshmanders 3y ago
This is common among the younger people joining the internet. An the creator of SpaceHey.com was nostalgic for the days of old social media that happened when he was too young to experience it. Add me if you have a SpaceHey account! https://spacehey.com/josh https://spacehey.com/josh
- BoxOfRain 3y ago
  I have a soft spot a mile wide for SpaceHey, there's just something about the whole idea that's really nice. I'm not sure how much of it is because building a whole social media platform out of nostalgia is a very hacker-like thing to do and how much of it is just because it's nice to see a social media platform that's not so aggressively monetised and manipulative but either way I'm really happy it exists.

morkalork 3y ago

They were born in 1999, so it's more like what a new generation's impression of what the old web was like.

waboremo 3y ago
You don't really have to know what specific year they were born in, the refusal to capitalize is a dead giveaway they did not experience that time at all. Anybody of that time period would be embarrassed to do so on a public site. Kind of funny how we carry these different meanings to mostly meaningless things.
- bink 3y ago
  Making advisories hard to read has been a thing since forever. Remember Gobbles? https://github.com/thinkitdata/GOBBLES/blob/master/advisories/GOBBLES-04.txt https://github.com/thinkitdata/GOBBLES/blob/master/advisorie...
  - waboremo 3y ago
    Very true, trends after all come and go. Specifically about this style though, I feel it fits right into the blog series about "domestic cozy"[1]. It aims to be exactly that, imply super casual/low effort tone, make it feel a bit more personal, and simultaneously about ignoring social traditions that feel redundant to them. Like all trends, it takes effort to follow, and part of this is encouraging friends to turn off auto-capitalization on your phone. So I would say it's a bit more than just trying to make something hard to read, and focusing on that bit might make you miss the rest of their storytelling process! [1] https://www.ribbonfarm.com/series/domestic-cozy/ https://www.ribbonfarm.com/series/domestic-cozy/
- mlyle 3y ago
  I had an all-lowercase website for a couple years on the early web. So did many of my friends. Archive.org snapshots are 2000-2001, but they'd been around before that in many iterations. Gah.. it's all embarrassing to look back on for other reasons...

Springtime 3y ago

You might have liked Lulzsec's website. They had an auto-playing audio clip of the Love Boat TV theme and an ASCII ship above text lyrics that replaced the word 'love' with 'lulz'. It was refreshingly amusing. Sadly archive.org doesn't have a copy from its live state—however I saved the home page at the time (MHTML ftw) and here's a video capture of it*: https://streamable.com/zon5wy https://streamable.com/zon5wy * Expires in one day Edit: for context Lulzsec were a hacking group a decade back responsible for various headline-making leaks and website hacks.

nyc_data_geek1 3y ago
Until they flipped Sabu

jabroni_salad 3y ago

You should check out the game Hypnospace Outlaw, which is set basically in a geocities-forum hybrid environment. It's basically a love letter to this old very personal internet.

rejectfinite 3y ago

Yes. But I also do not like people younger than me.

Izkata 3y ago

No one's mentioned it yet and knowing the HN demographic I'm just gonna say: Turn on javascript for the cat.