small web

The small, real, original web

2 months ago

The small web (non-corporate, original style internet from the 90s/early 2000s) still exists and is thriving despite AI and corporate dominance.
Terry Godier's 'boring' internet article provides a solid history of the web from no advertising to today's corporate layer.
Practical ways to maintain personal sites include using Firefox, Vivaldi, or TOR browsers, and a VPN like Proton.
The best resource for small web tools is the Resources List at 32bit.cafe, covering webmastery, directories, webrings, and indie alternatives.
Other useful tools: Teclis search, wiby.me/surprise, theforest.link, openmentions.com, and Raw Web search.
The fediverse offers decentralized services like Mastodon, PeerTube, and Lemmy, with Join the Fediverse as a great overview.
Personal blogs and digital gardens (e.g., rootcompute.neocities.org) are core to the small web, with blogrolls and aggregators for discoverability.
RSS is crucial for keeping up with indie sites; readers like gReader with Feedly are recommended, along with guides like PowRSS.
Other protocols like Gemini and Gopher also represent the small web beyond HTTP.
The original web existed before corporate agendas and will outlast them; readers are encouraged to reclaim it.