5 ms·

Wiby – Search Engine for the Classic Web

81 points by OuterVale 2y ago

RandomWorker 2y ago
After clicking on the surprise me button 20 times or so, a few things popped out to me. 1) I remember this time, we had delightfully nerdy hobbies back then. Little side projects and no one really cared how it was presented. It reminds me of my Southpark website that I maintained with each episode a summary and some screenshots. I spend quite a bit time on it, with my little counter hitting 1,000 views at some point(maybe I was half of that). 2) the web was not created for mobile. Everything is pretty awful, and not accessible. Reader view is not functional and it hinders absorbing the knowledge from these pages. But I do feel there was a larger diversity, maybe I’m too locked in to social media and Google.
- azinman2 2y ago
  I found this: https://www.thisman.org/oldsite/ https://www.thisman.org/oldsite/ While I do not dream of this man, I found it fascinating. I don’t know how I’d come across this now. Even more interesting to me is what happens when you get rid of the oldsite part of the url… the new site is so much worse! General blog like template, theoretically more mobile friendly except way less visually attractive and interesting.
- ricardo81 2y ago
  >we had delightfully nerdy hobbies back then. Indeed. Sites were sites, and someone's personality (and perhaps designer limitations) showed on it. I think with blogging things changed, people saw more opportunity to become an authority on topics rather than just putting their stuff 'out there' for fun. And afterwards, the web became horribly centralised.
fillskills 2y ago
Really cool project! How did you get rid of all the noise? (SEO optimized garbage, Ads masquerading as blogs etc)
- user432678 2y ago
  Not hundred percent sure but it looks like pages are checked manually to some extent.
lnxg33k1 2y ago
http://toastytech.com/evil/billwanted.html http://toastytech.com/evil/billwanted.html
polycaster 2y ago
Not sure about the technique wiby uses to filter garbage, but I could imagine a search index that contains only HTML4 pages could be quite resourceful.
- ricardo81 2y ago
  Nice idea. Another option albeit way more reliant and resource intensive, checking the wayback machine for page is very old + content hasn't changed much. A lot of these alt search engines look at signals of lack of JS and tracking but that is sort-of a cross-section of more non-commercial stuff.
reify 2y ago
What a superb well of knowledge unlike modern day flashy, bland, advert filled websites. I can happily read this all day long. http://www.orwelltoday.com/ http://www.orwelltoday.com/ My favourite. http://www.orwelltoday.com/drugpeace.shtml http://www.orwelltoday.com/drugpeace.shtml
aurea 2y ago
One of my favorite finds through Wiby is: https://thelocalyarn.com/excursus/test/index.html https://thelocalyarn.com/excursus/test/index.html which I found through this article specifically: https://thelocalyarn.com/excursus/test/articles/future-proofing.html https://thelocalyarn.com/excursus/test/articles/future-proof...
marban 2y ago
One just for news: https://littleberg.com https://littleberg.com
- sbarre 2y ago
  I wish this existed for international news.. It's very cool, but also very US-centric (which is totally ok, just not what I want).
egometry 2y ago
Adding this to my smallweb collection! Blocked reddit a few days back. Been looking for more idle exploring like the old days while relaxing, instead of that endless algorithm trawl...
wkjagt 2y ago
I miss the old web so much. It really was a magical place. It's so nice to see a search engine that doesn't interpret all my searches as if I want to buy something, or I'm looking for AI generated "best xyz in 2024" listicles.
gpchelkin 2y ago
There is also similar https://kagi.com/smallweb https://kagi.com/smallweb
- achairapart 2y ago
  Also, another project from Kagi founder: https://teclis.com https://teclis.com
- ricardo81 2y ago
  Mojeek also https://www.mojeek.com/search?q=britney+spears+before%3A20100101 https://www.mojeek.com/search?q=britney+spears+before%3A2010...
- flanbiscuit 2y ago
  and https://search.marginalia.nu/ https://search.marginalia.nu/
yazantapuz 2y ago
A portal to the good old days. I get this Cowboy Bebop page: https://futureblues.com/ https://futureblues.com/
sbarre 2y ago
I've had Wiby in my bookmarks bar for years. It's delightful, I click it at least a few times a week when I want to read something fun.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

81 points by OuterVale 2y ago

After clicking on the surprise me button 20 times or so, a few things popped out to me. 1) I remember this time, we had delightfully nerdy hobbies back then. Little side projects and no one really cared how it was presented. It reminds me of my Southpark website that I maintained with each episode a summary and some screenshots. I spend quite a bit time on it, with my little counter hitting 1,000 views at some point(maybe I was half of that). 2) the web was not created for mobile. Everything is pretty awful, and not accessible. Reader view is not functional and it hinders absorbing the knowledge from these pages. But I do feel there was a larger diversity, maybe I’m too locked in to social media and Google.

azinman2 2y ago
I found this: https://www.thisman.org/oldsite/ https://www.thisman.org/oldsite/ While I do not dream of this man, I found it fascinating. I don’t know how I’d come across this now. Even more interesting to me is what happens when you get rid of the oldsite part of the url… the new site is so much worse! General blog like template, theoretically more mobile friendly except way less visually attractive and interesting.
ricardo81 2y ago
>we had delightfully nerdy hobbies back then. Indeed. Sites were sites, and someone's personality (and perhaps designer limitations) showed on it. I think with blogging things changed, people saw more opportunity to become an authority on topics rather than just putting their stuff 'out there' for fun. And afterwards, the web became horribly centralised.

fillskills 2y ago

Really cool project! How did you get rid of all the noise? (SEO optimized garbage, Ads masquerading as blogs etc)

user432678 2y ago
Not hundred percent sure but it looks like pages are checked manually to some extent.

lnxg33k1 2y ago

http://toastytech.com/evil/billwanted.html http://toastytech.com/evil/billwanted.html

polycaster 2y ago

Not sure about the technique wiby uses to filter garbage, but I could imagine a search index that contains only HTML4 pages could be quite resourceful.

ricardo81 2y ago
Nice idea. Another option albeit way more reliant and resource intensive, checking the wayback machine for page is very old + content hasn't changed much. A lot of these alt search engines look at signals of lack of JS and tracking but that is sort-of a cross-section of more non-commercial stuff.

reify 2y ago

What a superb well of knowledge unlike modern day flashy, bland, advert filled websites. I can happily read this all day long. http://www.orwelltoday.com/ http://www.orwelltoday.com/ My favourite. http://www.orwelltoday.com/drugpeace.shtml http://www.orwelltoday.com/drugpeace.shtml

aurea 2y ago

One of my favorite finds through Wiby is: https://thelocalyarn.com/excursus/test/index.html https://thelocalyarn.com/excursus/test/index.html which I found through this article specifically: https://thelocalyarn.com/excursus/test/articles/future-proofing.html https://thelocalyarn.com/excursus/test/articles/future-proof...

marban 2y ago

One just for news: https://littleberg.com https://littleberg.com

sbarre 2y ago
I wish this existed for international news.. It's very cool, but also very US-centric (which is totally ok, just not what I want).

egometry 2y ago

Adding this to my smallweb collection! Blocked reddit a few days back. Been looking for more idle exploring like the old days while relaxing, instead of that endless algorithm trawl...

wkjagt 2y ago

I miss the old web so much. It really was a magical place. It's so nice to see a search engine that doesn't interpret all my searches as if I want to buy something, or I'm looking for AI generated "best xyz in 2024" listicles.

gpchelkin 2y ago

There is also similar https://kagi.com/smallweb https://kagi.com/smallweb

achairapart 2y ago
Also, another project from Kagi founder: https://teclis.com https://teclis.com
ricardo81 2y ago
Mojeek also https://www.mojeek.com/search?q=britney+spears+before%3A20100101 https://www.mojeek.com/search?q=britney+spears+before%3A2010...
flanbiscuit 2y ago
and https://search.marginalia.nu/ https://search.marginalia.nu/

yazantapuz 2y ago

A portal to the good old days. I get this Cowboy Bebop page: https://futureblues.com/ https://futureblues.com/

sbarre 2y ago

I've had Wiby in my bookmarks bar for years. It's delightful, I click it at least a few times a week when I want to read something fun.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]