At some point in the last year, I noticed that the internet was broken. An online search will churn out pages after pages of identical AI written SEO filled garbage. Comment sections are filled with bots and fake accounts. And social media is mostly toxic and tracking your every move.
I miss the good old days. For me that was forums, mailing lists, blogs and just browsing the web. Of course these things haven't gone away completely, they've just become hard to find in a sea of crap.
But there is a way back in - the indie web. Using this search term - or others like the small web, personal web or digital garden - you will discover people that are taking their online presence back into their own hands. Personal websites, autonomy and human content.
I could go on, but you will find plenty on the subject in the links below. The web is not dead.
For me Neocities was one of the first entry points. I made my first website on Geocities, so this has some nostalgia for me. Check out the websites or Activity section.
If blogs are more your thing, PowRSS has a nice selection of those. I highly recommend getting familiar with RSS, to stay up to date with websites you like. Like for example mine! Also see annie's blog and Kev Quirk.
Some people really have fun with their website design, like this acid trip of a website. Ahnvn has kept a neat log of changes to their front page and Nic Chan has made a fun computer styled website.
Some more related sites:
If all that has you keen to start making your own website, you can start here:
- Making your own website, step by step (Kev Quirk).
- HTML For People
- W3 Schools for great HTML and CSS tuturials.
Well, that devolved into a link dump pretty quick. Happy surfing!
Written on 5 December 2025