TIL about the "Indie Web", a revival of the days of personal websites on the early internet. (screenshots included)

4 months ago by The Picard Maneuver to c/til

Today I learned about the "Indie Web", a sort of web revival of the early internet days when everyone made personal websites and linked to each other rather than using the handful of big corporate sites.

People seem to be either self-hosting their websites or using a hosting service like "neocities". The result appears pretty authentic to the late 90s/early 00s: a wide range of polish, very niche and specific interests, page visit counters, guest books, chat rooms, random little games, etc.

It's tempting to get into. I figure that this might be something that would appeal to a lot of people on the fediverse too, so I thought I'd share. Here are some random pics of people's websites:

bjoern_tantau 64 points 4 months ago

The indie web never went away. The masses just concentrated at corporate slopsites.

path: 0 23510942, hotness: undefined, score: 64, children: 0

ollie 53 points 4 months ago

This has been my favourite part of the internet for the past few years since i discovered it.

For those interested, most people make their sites on Neocities, as mentioned by OP - though I personally prefer Nekoweb. Both are great places to get started for free though, you can't go wrong with either.

The basic HTML and CSS you'll need to know is quite simple and fun to learn, so even if you don't continue maintaining your site, I think it's a really good creative exercise.

If you do get involved in the community, it's a really fun way to get to know‎ people, (whether like-minded or not so like-minded) and a great creative outlet!

My website isn't as fancy as some of the indie sites I've seen,‎ but it's been a really fun thing to come back to on occasion and use as a creative outlet.

I'd love to see some other people here's sites!

path: 0 23511443, hotness: undefined, score: 53, children: 8

The_Picard_Maneuver 12 points 4 months ago

Awesome! I imagine the resources to learn html and CSS are so much easier to find these days. I haven't done anything like that since Myspace.

Is there anywhere that people are exchanging tips and tricks for getting started? I'd rather not go to reddit (I saw that there was a subreddit when searching for these screenshots) unless I have to.

path: 0 23511443 23511875, hotness: undefined, score: 12, children: 2

j4yc33 8 points 4 months ago

If you miss Myspace there is also https://spacehey.com/!

path: 0 23511443 23511875 23512523, hotness: undefined, score: 8, children: 0

ollie 4 points 4 months ago

There's some nice indie-web oriented tutorials I've come across on YouTube, but I started with the classic copy pasting from w3schools :P It also helps to use inspect element in your browser on the sites you like, helps get a better idea on how things work.

I'm too young to know what things we're like in MySpace times but I can only imagine the resources have only gotten easier to find :)

path: 0 23511443 23511875 23512709, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0

thal3s 5 points 4 months ago

OMG, I’d completely forgotten about guest books!

path: 0 23511443 23514420, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0

conartistpanda 3 points 4 months ago

Cause every night I will save your lifeeeeee

path: 0 23511443 23519616, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 1

ollie 3 points 4 months ago

And every night I will be with youuuu

path: 0 23511443 23519616 23522791, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0

SpookyBogMonster 1 point 4 months ago

I really like your site! What did you do to get the guestbook up and running?

path: 0 23511443 23529996, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 1

ollie 2 points 4 months ago

I embedded a guestbook hosted by Atabook - it's hosted by the same people who own Nekoweb, but you don't need to use Nekoweb to use it :)

path: 0 23511443 23529996 23530024, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0

bayaz 24 points 4 months ago

Whenever I see something like this, I like to give a quick pointer to Gemini (the protocol, which has nothing to do with the AI): https://geminiprotocol.net/

Pages don't have the unique html look and feel of individual web pages -- everything is basically just text and maybe static images. But, it does have a small, personal feel. I don't spend a lot of time there, but it's fun to browse on a slow day.

path: 0 23513153, hotness: undefined, score: 24, children: 2

The_Picard_Maneuver 8 points 4 months ago

Whoa, this is neat too. I could imagine some good use cases for this.

path: 0 23513153 23513414, hotness: undefined, score: 8, children: 0

Swedneck 1 point 3 months ago

i still don't understand how gemini is actually better, since you can just.. make small websites in html..

path: 0 23513153 24019413, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

stuartb 20 points 4 months ago

path: 0 23515712, hotness: undefined, score: 20, children: 5

The_Picard_Maneuver 12 points 4 months ago

What would that look like? Maybe some sort of system where you could assign your site tags (e.g. star trek, linux, cats) and people could navigate by a relevant topic?

path: 0 23515712 23516174, hotness: undefined, score: 12, children: 4

Taleya 10 points 4 months ago

Webrings

path: 0 23515712 23516174 23517031, hotness: undefined, score: 10, children: 1

lyrial 6 points 4 months ago

Yeah, I could imagine it being like a web ring that automatically populates via federation instead of having some central site for the web ring.

path: 0 23515712 23516174 23517031 23518868, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 0

stuartb 2 points 4 months ago

path: 0 23515712 23516174 23520888, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 1

The_Picard_Maneuver 1 point 4 months ago

I'm not sure if I can search for tags. I just tried and nothing came up, but it's also possible that the search function in the mobile app I'm using isn't the full search.

Very cool idea though!

path: 0 23515712 23516174 23520888 23524428, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

zout 18 points 4 months ago

Ah, the old internet, when you'd get 25 MB of web space with your hosting account. At some point in time you could get a .tk domain for free, suddenly everyone had one. Plenty of the old pages didn't even have css, but used HTML tables to format the site.

path: 0 23513930, hotness: undefined, score: 18, children: 1

treadful 5 points 4 months ago

Reminded me of the old free ml.org SLDs which were all the rage for a brief moment. RIP Monolith.

path: 0 23513930 23514284, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0

chunes 14 points 4 months ago

I can kill a whole afternoon on https://wiby.me/.

path: 0 23520529, hotness: undefined, score: 14, children: 0

FeelThePower 12 points 4 months ago

this is probably going to become the normal internet again after the inevitable social media age verification laws get passed.

path: 0 23518928, hotness: undefined, score: 12, children: 0

j4yc33 12 points 4 months ago

Hey I do a lot with this!

I made stumbler for human made websites that have many indie/small web sites at https://neostumble.neocities.org/

And a banner ad style thing like the old ads from back in the day at https://j4yc33.neocities.org/stuff/BannerAds

Enjoy the small web friend!

path: 0 23512506, hotness: undefined, score: 12, children: 4

The_Picard_Maneuver 4 points 4 months ago

Very cool! Banner ads are a must, lol

Side note: I'm not sure what terminology to use. I've seen "small web", "indie web", "intentional internet". I'm not sure if they're all referring to the same thing or mean something slightly different.

path: 0 23512506 23512803, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 1

j4yc33 4 points 4 months ago

I use them almost entirely interchangeably 🤠

path: 0 23512506 23512803 23512972, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0

osanna 3 points 4 months ago

I miss stumble upon:(

path: 0 23512506 23519776, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 1

j4yc33 2 points 4 months ago

Me too friend... Me too.

That's why I'm trying to rebuild it :D

path: 0 23512506 23519776 23519973, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0

Sanctus 10 points 4 months ago

How it was meant to be

path: 0 23512901, hotness: undefined, score: 10, children: 0

rhythmisaprancer 10 points 4 months ago

https://indieweb.org/

Reminds me of a webring!

path: 0 23511703, hotness: undefined, score: 10, children: 0

Stiggyman 10 points 4 months ago

Nekoweb.org is another hoster that I enjoy browsing

path: 0 23511359, hotness: undefined, score: 10, children: 0

dual_sport_dork 10 points 4 months ago

I'll bet those interfaces absolutely explode in your face if you try to view them on mobile.

I'm down for it. If one more person parrots "mobile first!" at me this week, I'm going to slap them.

path: 0 23511360, hotness: undefined, score: 10, children: 3

OwOarchist 6 points 4 months ago

If one more person parrots “mobile first!” at me this week, I’m going to slap them.

Mobile first!

path: 0 23511360 23512603, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 1

dual_sport_dork 6 points 4 months ago

path: 0 23511360 23512603 23512798, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 0

Holytimes 1 point 4 months ago

Mobile first!

path: 0 23511360 23543466, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

Surp 9 points 4 months ago

Can someone help me figure out how to find these sites and maybe where I can start one of my own? Is there an app I can download on my computer that helps me find this stuff or whatever

path: 0 23519622, hotness: undefined, score: 9, children: 2

AvocadoCumToast 14 points 4 months ago

I know Kagi has a ‘small website’ randomize visit feature:

https://kagi.com/smallweb/

path: 0 23519622 23520299, hotness: undefined, score: 14, children: 0

SpookyBogMonster 4 points 4 months ago

Neocities is the main host/discovery tool that people use, though there are other hosts out there, like NekoWeb.

If you wanna find smaller sites like this, Marginalia Search is a great place to look. Neocities also has it's own search function

I've even seen a couple communities here on Lemmy have Web Ring links in their sidebars. So check those too (community moderators, do more of that. I think it's rad!)

Some other things to check out that are tangentially related are:

The Gemini Protocol - an alternative to HTTP, that's more text heavy, but full of hobbyists doing cool stuff. There are personal sites, forums, Microblogging platforms, etc. I really like Lagrange Browser, because it's easy to use and looks really nice.

Protoweb - basically a really fancy version of the Wayback machine. If you install the standalone Retrozilla version of Protoweb, it'll more or less work right out of the box! (If you use linux, it runs perfectly fine on Wine) It's neat to be able to browse the web and see what ot used to be like, before the Predominance of social media.

path: 0 23519622 23529944, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0

Etterra 7 points 4 months ago

Oh hey Geocities, how've ya been?

path: 0 23519405, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 0

SpookyBogMonster 7 points 4 months ago

Fuck yeah!!! Everyone should make a site like this! I've been having tons of fun with mine recently.

The indie, the Fediverse, the Gemini Protocol, and Protoweb (and Linux, of course) have made using the computer genuinely fun again.

path: 0 23519559, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 0

Taleya 7 points 4 months ago

Revival? Mine never went away

path: 0 23517044, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 0

FlashMobOfOne 6 points 4 months ago

Oh yes. Been seeing fun things on NeoCities.

path: 0 23517761, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 0

JoMiran 6 points 4 months ago

YSK: That Google Cloud has a free tier that's good enough to host your private website. I host two corporate "brochure sites" and my Headscale server on that one single VM.

path: 0 23512842, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 3

The_Picard_Maneuver 5 points 4 months ago

Ooh, I had no idea! Is there a catch?

path: 0 23512842 23512930, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 2

nshibj 21 points 4 months ago

Google

path: 0 23512842 23512930 23513137, hotness: undefined, score: 21, children: 0

JoMiran 6 points 4 months ago

Nope.

https://cloud.google.com/free

EDIT: I should note that when I created mine, it estimated that it would cost me ~$2 per month, but I've never been charged a penny.

path: 0 23512842 23512930 23513029, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 0

samus12345 6 points 4 months ago

I like the retro look of having early internet looking websites in widescreen.

path: 0 23514165, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 0

umbrella 5 points 4 months ago

path: 0 23521334, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0

mlg 3 points 4 months ago

Ah the good old days when XSS was a feature lmao

path: 0 23520566, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0

til

@lemmy.world

login for more options

What did you learn today? Share it with us!

We learn something new every day. This is a community dedicated to informing each other and helping to spread knowledge.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)

Rule 1- All posts must begin with TIL. Linking to a source of info is optional, but highly recommended as it helps to spark discussion.

** Posts must be about an actual fact that you have learned, but it doesn't matter if you learned it today. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.**

Rule 2- Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.

Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.

Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.

Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Posts and comments which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.

Rule 6- Regarding non-TIL posts.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-TIL posts using the [META] tag on your post title.

Rule 7- You can't harass or disturb other members.

If you vocally harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.

For further explanation, clarification and feedback about this rule, you may follow this link.

Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.

Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.

Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.

Unless included in our Whitelist for Bots, your bot will not be allowed to participate in this community. To have your bot whitelisted, please contact the moderators for a short review.

Partnered Communities

You can view our partnered communities list by following this link. To partner with our community and be included, you are free to message the moderators or comment on a pinned post.

Community Moderation

For inquiry on becoming a moderator of this community, you may comment on the pinned post of the time, or simply shoot a message to the current moderators.

go to feed...

til

@lemmy.world

login for more options

What did you learn today? Share it with us!

We learn something new every day. This is a community dedicated to informing each other and helping to spread knowledge.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)

Rule 1- All posts must begin with TIL. Linking to a source of info is optional, but highly recommended as it helps to spark discussion.

** Posts must be about an actual fact that you have learned, but it doesn't matter if you learned it today. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.**

Rule 2- Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.

Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.

Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.

Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Posts and comments which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.

Rule 6- Regarding non-TIL posts.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-TIL posts using the [META] tag on your post title.

Rule 7- You can't harass or disturb other members.

If you vocally harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.

For further explanation, clarification and feedback about this rule, you may follow this link.

Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.

Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.

Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.

Unless included in our Whitelist for Bots, your bot will not be allowed to participate in this community. To have your bot whitelisted, please contact the moderators for a short review.

Partnered Communities

You can view our partnered communities list by following this link. To partner with our community and be included, you are free to message the moderators or comment on a pinned post.

Community Moderation

For inquiry on becoming a moderator of this community, you may comment on the pinned post of the time, or simply shoot a message to the current moderators.

go to feed...