This is an homage to the 90s only in the sense that public HTML hosting was more popular in the 90s. Everything about this seems like a modern project (in both design and ideals) with a very inaccurate "retro" coat of paint.
- Site makes use of HTML5 and modern JS. Why bemoan modern frameworks and then use modern, bloated elements?
- Why is there a completely modern register/sign in section in the middle of the home page? Why do young people think every website used to have a marquee? Why does it look like a facsimile of a borderless Windows 95 window? Why the emojis everywhere? Why is there a text shadow effect done with CSS when the 90s way would be to use an image of the text with the effect already replied, with ALT text for text browsers? So many odd design decisions.
- Long content moderation policy talking about how the site is for "Marxist, Communist, Anarchist, Feminist, Postcolonial, Abolitionist, Racial Justice, Queer, Hacker, and Pirate cultures." and how things the site owner doesn't like will be removed.
- The about page looks written with ChatGPT. "That's it. No webpack. No npm install. No 'building for production.', Just HTML. Just vibes." It then goes on to say that they only have "Passwordless authentication (because it's 2025, not 1995)"
This looks to be yet another project fawning over a time and place that the creator didn't experience or have any significant understanding of whatsoever. It's one thing to look at the past with rose tinted glasses, it's another to have a completely fictionalized view of a past you have no knowledge of and then build a service around it.
It feels very contrived, as if someone has seen a handful of screenshots and tried to describe it to someone else, rather than a clear (or just well researched) memory of what the mindset, trends and limitations really were around web design 30 years ago.
You can find many of my actual pages from the 90s here: https://archive.groovy.net, so yeah, I was there. And yeah, it is definitely a fun parody/homage, not a recreation, so yeah, it for sure is contrived. I guess I never once used Comic Sans in the actual 90s, and was not a big user of the marquee tag or gifs.
It is intended to provide easy hosting, which many people need, and to encourage people to work on their own computer, rather than use web based tools, so it will have upload/validation, etc, but never editing or change your html in any way.
Hey Gary,,I'm Dmytri, no issue with any of the points, but I most definitely was there in the 90s, see dmytri.to, this is just a fun project for me because people still need easy hosting and I've been helping with that for decades.
Well nowhere in the page does the author mention any attempt to be authentic or using html written the same way ad in the 90's so I am wondering where does that negativity come and why?
It looks to me this service is proposing hosting like it is the 90's, not building a web page exactly like it is the 90's with just a wee bit of retro clues.
The same way a Mazda Miata gave you the feeling of driving a british roadster of the 60's while having much more modern internals,comfort, reliability and fuel economy.
Interesting final point you bring up because all of those shortcomings are part of the experience, without them you’re experiencing something completely different. (As a classic car owner that’s not entirely a bad thing in the case of the MX-5).
- Site makes use of HTML5 and modern JS. Why bemoan modern frameworks and then use modern, bloated elements?
- Why is there a completely modern register/sign in section in the middle of the home page? Why do young people think every website used to have a marquee? Why does it look like a facsimile of a borderless Windows 95 window? Why the emojis everywhere? Why is there a text shadow effect done with CSS when the 90s way would be to use an image of the text with the effect already replied, with ALT text for text browsers? So many odd design decisions.
- Long content moderation policy talking about how the site is for "Marxist, Communist, Anarchist, Feminist, Postcolonial, Abolitionist, Racial Justice, Queer, Hacker, and Pirate cultures." and how things the site owner doesn't like will be removed.
- The about page looks written with ChatGPT. "That's it. No webpack. No npm install. No 'building for production.', Just HTML. Just vibes." It then goes on to say that they only have "Passwordless authentication (because it's 2025, not 1995)"
This looks to be yet another project fawning over a time and place that the creator didn't experience or have any significant understanding of whatsoever. It's one thing to look at the past with rose tinted glasses, it's another to have a completely fictionalized view of a past you have no knowledge of and then build a service around it.