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Building a website like it's 1999

localghost.dev

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Re: Building a website like it's 1999

#31

Post by [deleted] »

n1c00o wrote: post #12
AstixAndBelix wrote: post #11

I bet you some people got really annoyed when written language was standardized and people couldn't simply spell things willy nilly using "their creativity". Every time you read a book you are looking at thousands of years of typographical standardization, but you don't lament the fact that they "all look the same". In fact, if you took a book out of the library shelf and saw it was written in a weird font (i.e. papy…

> This fetishization of the "old web" initially works when you're just browsing some terse blog or personal web page from people you don't even know, but the moment you want to actually search for information on the web this style of websites immediately becomes annoying. This. I see a lot of people being angry at UI changes on bug platforms with the reason that "they all look the same", but unless the platform is a…

[deleted]

Re: Building a website like it's 1999

#32

Post by RobotToaster »

AstixAndBelix wrote: post #11

I bet you some people got really annoyed when written language was standardized and people couldn't simply spell things willy nilly using "their creativity". Every time you read a book you are looking at thousands of years of typographical standardization, but you don't lament the fact that they "all look the same". In fact, if you took a book out of the library shelf and saw it was written in a weird font (i.e. papy…

I've found some of the most informative websites look like they were made in the late 90's

Re: Building a website like it's 1999

#33

Post by chrisco255 »

masswerk wrote: post #29
pavlov wrote: post #23

A few weeks ago I realized that my personal website from 1999 is still up and unchanged, just copied from one host to another: https://anioni.com/pauli/site1999/ I made this when I was 19, before I changed career ambitions to programming. Maybe it’s moderately interesting as an actual 1999 website time capsule. There’s no CSS because IIRC it didn’t work very well in Netscape 4. Layout was done with tables and frames.…

I like this layout, which is really how I remember the late-1990s web: https://anioni.com/pauli/site1999/work/nurminen1-01.html A well considered arrangement of structure, content and design. Something we do not get to see that much anymore.

It's so much harder to pull it off with the huge range in screen sizes and resolutions. Back then you could make an 800x600 (or maybe even up to 960 width) design and it would work on 99% of the monitors (rarely did anyone have more than 1024x768).

Re: Building a website like it's 1999

#34

Post by pavlov »

moffkalast wrote: post #30
pavlov wrote: post #23

A few weeks ago I realized that my personal website from 1999 is still up and unchanged, just copied from one host to another: https://anioni.com/pauli/site1999/ I made this when I was 19, before I changed career ambitions to programming. Maybe it’s moderately interesting as an actual 1999 website time capsule. There’s no CSS because IIRC it didn’t work very well in Netscape 4. Layout was done with tables and frames.…

You know it's funny, those demo scene photos would probably be thought of as AI generated these days. Maybe it's the 'dreaminess'? Dare post them on Artstation? xd

I had the same thought earlier this year when I saw what Midjourney is capable of. The style that I’d spent many years in my youth trying to master was now available at a push of a button.

It felt like I had dodged a bullet by switching to programming instead of pursuing an art career. That happened primarily because I realized fairly quickly that my talent was quite limited and there were thousands of better artists in this space, everyone competing over the Internet. Specializing on a programming niche felt like a better long-term plan.

Re: Building a website like it's 1999

#36

Post by marginalia_nu »

chrisco255 wrote: post #33
masswerk wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like this layout, which is really how I remember the late-1990s web: https://anioni.com/pauli/site1999/work/nurminen1-01.html A well considered arrangement of structure, content and design. Something we do not get to see that much anymore.

It's so much harder to pull it off with the huge range in screen sizes and resolutions. Back then you could make an 800x600 (or maybe even up to 960 width) design and it would work on 99% of the monitors (rarely did anyone have more than 1024x768).

That's solvable with vw/vx-units in CSS.

I think the range in aspect ratios is the bigger problem. It's hard to get around without resulting in a nasty reactive design where everything keeps shuffling around as you resize the window.

Re: Building a website like it's 1999

#37

Post by marginalia_nu »

nicbou wrote: post #8
Alpi wrote: post #6

Ok you got me, I feel nostalgic. What strikes me most is that those people from 90th were putting their creativity into something only handful of people will ever see, they were effectively shouting to void. I would love to be still able to discover low-ranging websites like this. I remember somebody shared some alternative search engine?

Marginalia. Its creator hangs out on HN.

o/

Re: Building a website like it's 1999

#38

Post by marginalia_nu »

Alpi wrote: post #6

Ok you got me, I feel nostalgic. What strikes me most is that those people from 90th were putting their creativity into something only handful of people will ever see, they were effectively shouting to void. I would love to be still able to discover low-ranging websites like this. I remember somebody shared some alternative search engine?

> What strikes me most is that those people from 90th were putting their creativity into something only handful of people will ever see, they were effectively shouting to void.

Well you had visitor counters and guestbooks. There was obviously no expectation to go "viral" and have millions of visitors, but it felt social in a different way. More like a small cozy neighborhood, less like a train station.

Re: Building a website like it's 1999

#39

Post by nonesuchluck »

This is fantastic, but not fully in the spirit of the old web. Personal pages looked like they did because they were essentially outsider art: the product of experimentation by teenagers and rank amateurs, who had no idea what we were doing. In 1999 we were using Netscape Composer and FrontPage Express, because they came with our browsers and were fun to explore. Only a web professional could use these tricks today to simulate that appearance.

The click-and-drag tools and absolutely garbage code generators were integral to the experience, because they brought in the weirdos who didn't know we were doing it wrong. We learned, but lost something along the way.

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