Webzones that Kick Ass

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Subpages

Homepages

Of course, we have the obligatory links page! This is a collection of sites I've been known to enjoy visiting now and again, and perhaps you will as well.

Returning Champions

everything₂: Some sorta proto-wiki loaded with fascinating nodes. You can get lost in this place finding all sorts of cool knowledge and hype stories.
Questden (formerly tgchan): Super creative imageboard where users suggest actions for characters to take. Loads of wild tales being told in here, but here's all the must-reads.
December Communications: A classic web portal with extensive links and HTML info.
Sixteen Colors: The web's premier gallery of ANSI art, old and new.
The Daily Motivator: Daily words of wisdom to change your life by.

P2P Darknets

Freenet I2P TOR ZeroNet

Powerful Newcomers

: Digital history only exists for as long as it is deliberately kept around. If it means something to you, spread copies.
Media Bias/Fact Check: Indicates how left/right and correct/wrong common news sources are.
Pouët: Huge archive of impressive demoscene productions.
SauceNao: Powerful reverse image search.
Unshort.Link: Removes the uncertainty from random shortened URLs.

Geocities Reuploads

~~Reocities~~RIP to the OG. Oocities Generally reliable, but slow. Displays the site at 800px alongside ads. Geo.ws Combination webhost and archive that usually has the /username/ sites. ~~Geocities Archive~~ Never used this one; don't have anything to say about it. Geocities Gallery Zippy, plays MIDIs, and has most of the /Neighborhood/1234/ sites. Torrent it! Got 650GB to spare? Keep a part of WWW history with you always. 1TB of the KB Age 72 daily screenshots showing how homepages looked when they were updated for the last time. GIFcitiesInternet Archive's search engine of the GIFs that appeared on Geocities.

Gopher and Gemini

Now, these aren't websites, but where the hell else am I gonna talk about 'em. If your web browser is a monolingual loser that doesn't know these protocols, then try using Lagrange or the Smolnet Teleportal.

Baud Baby: Cat's colorful hole with a variety of projects and the Fax Sex phlog.
Circumlunar Space: Solderpunk's trio of Tilde servers, hosting all sorts of creative peeps.
Gopher Black: Tomasino's hole, where interesting topics are always on tap.

Medusae Space: New to Gemini with no clue where to fly? Find a place to be in this directory.
Station: A Gemini-protocol microblog service where internauts chat.
Cosmic Voyage: An enthralling collaborative science-fiction universe.

Technology

Privacy Guides: How to use and fight for your right to privacy online.
SectorDisk: Tilde community where users artfully write 512-byte chunks to a diskette.
Oldschool PC Fonts: System fonts from classic computers, now available as TTFs.

AltexxaNet: Classic internet services kept alive for use on retro systems.
Protoweb: Archived internet proxy service for retro websurfing at 56K or T1 speeds.

Telnet BBS Guide / BBS.guide: For when the desire strikes to dive into some pre-Web-style internetting.
TextFiles.com: Huge resource of BBS-era documents and ANSI art.

Annoying Shit To Hate
Fuck crypto, the electricity it uses, and the GPU shortage it caused!
#CRAPtocurrency No dang idea what I'm angry/laughing about? Here's a crash course.	Extremely FungibleLoads of right-clickables for those who believe art was made to be shared.	Web3's Going Great!Everything's perfectly fine in the coiniverse. No problems at all to laugh at.
Fuck Wikia/Fandom and the shitton of ads it wants to drown us under!
Fandom = suck Fandom (formerly Wikia) is a hypercapitalist monopoly and should be avoided.	BreezeWiki Frontend/debloater for some actually-usable Fandom wiki reading.	Miraheze Need a Wiki but got no sysadmin selfhost swag? Set it up here instead.
I wish the entire ad-tech industry a very lose all your jobs!
Distrust Facebook	Delete Instagram	Laugh at Twitter Timeline of birdsite's WTF moments from 12022-11 to 12023-04.

Squeaky Wikis

All The Tropes: TVTropes with no ads, less ego, and zero bullshit, all available under the CC BY-SA license.
Caps Wiki and Repair Wiki: Crowdsourced repair guides for all types of computers and electronics.
The Cutting Room Floor: Dummy and beta content found hidden within video games.
FanLore: Recalling the history of fandoms, where they are and were, and all the zany drama and legal challenges that happened along the way.

Know Your Meme: Deep archive of internet inside jokes (largely common to 4chan and reddit; tends to lack knowledge of most Tumblr memes).
Public Domain Super Heroes: Comic book characters with lapsed copyrights that you could be using right now.
RationalWiki: Documents and refutes varieties of bullshit.
: Reports from an organization working to document and contain the supernatural.

Web Apps

After Dark CSS: The classic screensaver suite, recreated entirely in your browser.
Cyber Threat Map: A real-time visualization of cyber-attacks.
Online Teletext Viewer: A glimpse into the world of Teletext, which is a very fascinating and Aesthetic information service we didn't have here in the States. Read the description of this video for an explanation of how it worked.
Tumblr: The only megahuge social media site that's actually social and not a bunch of advertising delivery mechanisms in a manufactured-outrage trenchcoat. Chronological posts, superb custom themes, and optional algorithms. Be a lot cooler if it still had porn, but whatever.
Windows 98 Icon Viewer: Explore those great historical PC aesthetics.

Website Resources

Tutorials, Graphics, and Resources
HTML+CSS+JS Help sadness's collected knowledge on DIY webweaving.	VastRecs-ources Webdev things recommended by Ryan.	Bumper Stickers Little quippy images to spice up your pages.
32-Bit Resources Link list of things approved by the web-revival community.	Interacting Online How to be a good neighbor on the hobbyist sector of HTTPS.	Current HTML/CSS IntrosWant to Do It Your Damn Self but have no idea where to start? Try these.
TUICSS CSS library for creating webapps resembling text-mode DOS programs.	7.css CSS framework mimicing the Windows Aero user interface.	and more! Other retro-inspired CSS frameworks, including for Windows 98, XP, and console RPGs.
GoatCounterOpen-source privacy-friendly analytics system, self-hosted or embeddable.	MFin HTML Entities Get the &#number; codes needed to display special characters.	Web Pages That Suck Learn good design by knowing bad design.
HTML and CSS are enough, here's how
Don't Need JSseriously some of this CSS shit is advanced	Don't Need jQuery Cross-browser ways to do things people grab libraries for.	Can I Use?Guide to HTML5/CSS3 feature support in Chromium/Firefox/Opera browsers.
X(HT)ML, XSLT, and RSS references
Card Pages Example website that's also a valid RSS feed.	XML Deep DiveThings you didn't know X(HT)ML could do.	RSS Advisory Board Specs of and example feeds for all versions of RSS.
Easier layout management with site generators
htp A simple HTML preprocessor makes layout consistency a breeze.	Zonelets Basic blog generator used by a fair number of Neocitizens.	SSG Masterlist Need a site generator to manage a more complex webzone? Try them all.
On-site Music Players *Autoplay enablers' PCs will be defenestrated
MIDIjs Go full Geocities and play MIDI files on your homepage.	WebAmp Javascript version of Winamp 2 for blasting MP3s classic style.	WebAudio Mod Player Add some supa dope MOD/S3M/XM tunes to your VPS-hosted domain!
Perspectives on 'www.'
No WWW Got a www. on your .com? Not necessary; get rid of it.	Yes WWWSocial and technical arguments for keeping the old ways.	Extra WWWBut everyone knows real ballers slap on a second www!
Need a place to put your webzone?
Host ListBite-size reviews of a few services where you can place your cyberspace.	No EIG brandsThe racing-to-bottom webhosts to avoid.	Low-end VPSesCompilation of certified decent cheap VPS providers.

Optimized pages load faster
NearlyFreeSpeech Pay-as-you-go hosting for static or PHP sites at under $20/yr!	Porkbun Lowest-cost domain names, free privacy, $30/yr static hosting.
Compression SorceryNeonaut's usage guide to image optimization sites.	Image Formats My linklist to image compression programs for Windows.
Cut Code Down Advice on how to structure and optimize your markup.	GTmetrix Website speed analysis and comparison.
If your page says "Best viewed in Netscape" you'd better mean it
Index Dot HTML Actually designing for older browsers? See which tags are supported.	Legacy HTML Tutorial How to really party like it's 11999.
Be part of the community..
List of Webrings Paths along the 'net that your site could become a stop on.	The Fanlistings Add badges to show your support of your favorite shows/movies/games.
..or host the community!
Run Your Own SocialTired of corporate social media? Why not spin up your own small network?	Grow Your Own Services Other fun things you can do on the cloud and fediverse.

Pre-made Free-to-use Webpage Layouts
AlmostSweet	Arlita	Code Sharing	EggRamen	NeoThemes
Repth	sadgrl	Templaterr	Wish Glows	Xandra

Teh Edn >:(

Recommended reading/articles are now listed on Bold Type.

Social media suxx. Ditch the feed; make a website!

32bit.Cafe

Now that you're through with my links page, here's some made by other people that I also enjoyed! Have fun out there.

Censorine's Weblinks

Cool/Interesting Sites Obspogon's Megacollection of worthwhile clicks. GioCities Recommendations Gio's list of Things You Should, most of which I also agree with. Green Internet Linklist Thinkpieces regarding how to build a more sustainable WWW. Jam's jams Sampler pack of the web's tastier flavors. Links Taccola Useful, cool, and pixelated links flown in by jackdaws. Lost Letters Links ooh.directory Blogroll 'Blogging is dead', eh? The hell are all these, then?

Owl's Tech Resources Video Rex Rex's playlist of important YouTube videos. Web Theory LHFM's recommended reading list of internet-related articles. You Should Have Seen This 198 viral hits from the '00s that everyone already ought to know about.

The Memory Lane Mausoleum (Click/tap to expand)

Webzones that Kicked Ass ☠

I saw someone say "The internet is forever" earlier and it kind of hurt.
The internet is barely for now, Data disappears all the time. Sites go down, DMCA takedowns. No seeders. No funding. Never archived. Harddrive failure. Redesign that breaks legacy URLs.
The internet is for never.
@ajroach42@retro.social, 12021-10-17

Started in 1199X

Purple.com (11994-12017): Used to be the original 'single-serving site', but got purchased by the mattress company.
Alexa Internet (11996-12022): Formerly a comparative analytics and traffic ranking site with interesting data on website popularity. Replaced with a placeholder for some smart-home bullshit I don't give a fuck about.
Classic Gaming Network (GameSpy) (11996-12013): Hosted a ton of info-packed subsites about game series (including some of my favorites, the Metroid Database and Text-mode) until IGN decided it was costing too much money.
(11996-11999): Classic emulation resource and download site, shut down by its webhost for being too popular. It rebranded to the Vintage Gaming Network (12001-12009), the button for which I still regularly find on other Neocities pages.
StickDeath (11996-12006): Classic Flash animation site with loads of over-the-top violent shit on it that was fucking hilarious to preteen me.
YourWebApps (11997-12019): Simple pseudonymous text-only message board host. RIP to whatever numerous communities once used it, along with their up-to-22 years of conversations.
Flash (11998-12020): A once-ubiquitous vector art, animation, and game creation utility that helped make the early web an even more wildly creative place. It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows - there were issues with autoplay, annoying ads, security risks, and screamers - but the 12000s would've been way more boring without it!
Team TNT (11998-12008): Absolutely dynamite site with Doom/Boom WADs and resources.
FilePlanet (11999-12012): Game and patch download site largely supplanted by ModDB. Was thankfully well archived and made available. Seemingly pivoted to APK archiving in 12017.
Heavy (11999-12012): Ex-video site that was a great place to find some funny shit in the pre-YouTube days.
MSN Messenger (11999-12014): Superb instant messaging system with custom emotes, voice clips, handwriting/drawing, and file transfer. Made being part of a Flash group lit.

Started in 1200X

ThinkGeek (12000-12019): "Stuff for Smart Masses." AKA collectibles I felt compelled to waste money on for some reason. Was fun to browse until all the personality got sucked out in late 12014.
Toonami Digital Arsenal (12000-12018): Used to be a huge archive of show intros, promos, and game reviews from the entire history of the Toonami block. Taken down because of some copyright-related bullshit.
Freewebs (12002-1201?): Former webhost with either hand-made or template-based static sites. But, eventually they got rid of the free and became just Webs, until that also got phased out in 12021.
InvisionFree / zIFBoards (12002-12017): Ad-supported forum host that let users set up a custom instance of Invision Power Board. Loads of groups had a few back in the day; chaotic but fun. Got slowly phased out in favor of Zetaboards and then Tapatalk.
Rapidshare (12002-12015): File sharing site that remained popular for a long time in spite of obnoxious ads and countdown timers. Like, honestly, Mediafire was and is so much better.
Web-2.0β image hosting sites (12002-12004/12016-12019): Picasa, ImageShack, PhotoBucket, TinyPic, Flickr.. either gone, operating in a reduced capacity, or pivoted to paid-only. Now Imgur reigns supreme.. but for how much longer?
SheezyArt (12003-12013): Friendly art community that was a fun hangout in spite of constant server problems. Banned adult content after a hosting provider switch in 12005, which may have inspired the creation of FurAffinity. (Probably not, but wouldn't that be hilarious?) Went offline for a rewrite that never materialized. Briefly revived by fans for under a year in 12021.
TheDesignWorld (12004-12011): Source for Photoshop tutorials, web design templates, and prerendered images.
gprime.net (12004-12011): "whatever you want it to be," as long as what you wanted was to download a curated collection of Flashes and WMVs.
My Opera Community (12004-12014): Blogging site for users of the Opera browser, which was shut down after it adopted the Blink engine.
Fur Affinity Forums (12005-07/12023-04): Online for 17.5 years and 3.84 million posts, then moved into read-only mode for four months in favor of a Discord server. :salute: to one of the last living giants of the Web 2.0β age.
Megaupload (12005-12012): File hosting site taken down by the feds bEcAuSe PiRaCy, meaning we lost a lot of game mods and legit downloads not mirrored elsewhere.
OldApps.com (12005-12017): Archived program download site that had some later releases and betas not listed on oldversion.com.. right up until its downloads server disappeared without warning.
Cute With Chris (12006-12011): A reader-submitted pet photo blog and hilarious web show that was a source of some of my early inside jokes, including 'teen girl rat war' and 'go to hell, gloves'.
Iron Chariots (12006-12018): Wiki dedicated to counter-apologetics of religious/theistic arguments.

Started in 1201X

Toppp / Topazon (12012-12017): Hand-curated listing of the highest-quality, best rated products on Amazon. Great for gift ideas and impulse purchases!
The Retro Underground (12012-12022): Small personal blog containing reviews of obscure console and freeware games.
Gfycat (12013-12023): GIF to MP4 conversion service to make images load faster by drastically reducing filesizes.
Vid.me (12014-12017): Video sharing platform that hoped to solve the problems faced by small creators on YouTube. Instead, it suffered from its own problems, including site design, algorithm manipulation, and Google/Facebook eating the entire ad market.
scifi.fyi (12017-12019) and notvery.social (12018?-12019): The Glitch-soc and Mastodon instances I jumped onto the Fediverse with.
Waterfall.social (12018-12/12023-03): One of the NSFW-friendly tumblog sites that sprang up during the Sexodus, only to later vanish just as quickly. Had a purposefully chill, let's not make the same mistakes culture, but I didn't use it much due to a near-total lack of customization.

Started in 1202X

Finger.Farm (12021-01/12023-02): Smol-net 'advanced hosting' for users of the Finger protocol. Reimplementation of 1970s-style microblogging through .project and .plan files.
(12021-02/12023-06): A chill community that sought to explore digital history, finding good ideas/design that got left behind during the rise of social media. A nice hangout for experimenting and sharing knowledge and resources.. for about a year and a half.
Sadly, it grew too big too fast, there was some vague and bizarre cognitive dissonance about hobbyism vs. activism, and the mods burned out so hard that the forums intended to replace the Discord server also caught fire.

Plus so, so many webcomics I used to read, and those weird meme repost/Cheezburger Network sites. Rest in pepperonis.

Remember All We've Lost Discontinued web browsers List of defunct social networking services The Google Graveyard Killed by Mozilla

Listen to "Bad Boys Blue - You're A Woman (I'm A Man)" on YouTube?

In too deep? Perhaps you could use a Roadmap.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

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Originally appeared on Bytemoth's Brook / CC BY-SA