https://glitch.com/ is kind of like this. Back in the 90s, however, things were a lot more decentralized. Now people make something in Minecraft or make a video for TikTok when they want to have a little creative expression. Creativity has been co-opted by corps.
> Creativity has been co-opted by corps.
It was in the 90s too, they were just slightly less skilled at it.
It's still kind of wild to think that these platforms just accepted and displayed user entered HTML. I'm sure they did some input validations, but I can't imagine anyone wanting to run that kind of platform these days.
Not a site, but it may be worth a mention anyway. Minecraft has done an incredible job getting the younger generation into coding. Creating your own server starts off fairly straightforward, but gets very technical very quickly if you allow it to. From dealing with and editing all the files needed, setting up databases needed by some plugins, setting up websites, communities and shops for your server, all the way to eventually writing your own plugins. On top of that, Redstone and Command Blocks in the vanilla game, as well as mods like ComputerCraft in the Forge world have done a lot to get people excited about tech.
https://neocities.org/ sounds like it might be what you're looking for
Is it popular with zoomers? I thought it was more of a millennial nostalgia thing personally.
It's important to point out that nothing in this regard is popular with zoomers, because they don't do traditional web development, they use pre-existing social media.
When they do, my zoomers and their classmates are using jsfiddle.net as a scratchpad type situation, although you can save code and share links.
https://glitch.com/ is kind of like this. Back in the 90s, however, things were a lot more decentralized. Now people make something in Minecraft or make a video for TikTok when they want to have a little creative expression. Creativity has been co-opted by corps.
> Creativity has been co-opted by corps.
GeoCities was a "corp" that was eventually purchased by Yahoo for >$3B. That the new corps provide creativity through a non-HTML means doesn't make them more corp-y.
Carrd is popular with Gen Z and IIRC does let you do full CSS customization (and some limited HTML). I haven't used it myself so I can't give you a full rundown, but some of the fancier Carrds I've seen have been really cool
Gen Z is as old as 26 this year. They were on Tumblr, Neopets, Club Penguin. If you're thinking specifically of people >23 or something, a lot of them learn some basic skills in early school, but idk about sites that allow this.
At the risk of sounding ignorant, I don’t think there is such a site that is popular among Gen Z. I’m just north of the Gen Z border, and I think I would have heard of that site by now.
If someone wanted to create a social media empire which gives users control over HTML and CSS, an obstacle they’d need to overcome is Gen Z’s use of phones over PCs.