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Comment by kaoD | Hacker News Reader

> This article can be discussed on r/TTTThis.

Oh the irony.

The web has changed: in some ways for the worse, and in others for the better. I remember websites being like a lottery: sometimes you'd hit jackpot but most of them were "Under construction" GIFs over ugly tiled backgrounds.

There is still ton of content and much more than what I would've dreamt on the 90s. Platforms like Reddit allow everyone, whether they know HTML or not, to publish their own content and even comment on others'.

Yes, Facebook and Twitter suck, but that's mostly it. I'm very, very grateful for everything else on modern internet.

This smells like 'memberberries.

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I didn't put discussion on the page in order to keep it as code-light as possible. Reddit is a good option for discussion (at the time of writing), especially considering I didn't want to clutter HN up with a discussion page for each article (no problem on a subreddit).

I agree with you on the value of reddit and platforms (and I actually value Facebook-type platforms as well, with the obvious qualifications), but the old html sites I write about here have a different type of construction, material, and value.

(- The author)

> the old html sites I write about here have a different type of construction, material, and value.

These still exist. They are prettier and more content packed than the 90s ones you're reminiscing about, and there are many, many more than there used to. I honestly think you're seeing the early web with rose-tinted nostalgia glasses.

Unless you liked the DIY amateurish hacker feel of it (which I agree has its value on its own) I think they've changed mostly for the better.

Just to be on the same page: what's exactly that type of construction, material and value you miss? What did you like of it?

EDIT: After re-reading your original post I think I get your point. It's just... #RememberWebsites, of course it's nostalgia-fueled! And that was the point of the post, right? Celebrating it (which I completely misunderstood as a celebration of websites themselves).

There are still many. Here's one that might fulfill your oldschool needs: https://www.justinguitar.com/

Mobile changed websites into displaying less content. Are we better off? Scrolling forever vs clicking next page / last page. I think scrolling is worse if you ever want to find that piece of content again.

For developers, information breadth and quality was excellent when I first onlined in '98, and has improved by leaps and bounds year by year.

For other stuff, I agree with that OP article, that was a uniquely rich caleidoscope that got "blandened" (now lost/gone/fully-transitioned) as the types of folks who'd craft such little labour-of-love sites mostly did so for lack of easier / more-convenient options that soon popped up first with prefab forums and prefab Wordpress / Blogger, then Tumblr/Medium/social-media.

most of them were "Under construction" GIFs over ugly tiled backgrounds

Oh you remind me of the beautiful paean to those GIFs in Olia Lialina's "A Vernacular Web", which is a pretty cool discussion of early internet aesthetics.

http://art.teleportacia.org/observation/vernacular/uc/

Reddit and HN are very old school. I made the switch from Usenet to messaging boards and then reddit.

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