Retro Web vs. Anti-Bloat/Minimal Web

[nsequeira119]

This is a very interesting dichotomy you've brought up here. I suppose the main difference between whether someone will be attracted to the retro web or the minimal web is whether someone is particularly fond of nostalgia. Those who are nostalgic will prefer the retro web, those who aren't will prefer the minimal.

Of course, there are plenty of small websites I've seen that aren't very retro at all- they have sleek, futuristic lines and forward-thinking aphorisms. This is what I guess you would call the "minimal" side. Of course, there are always the naysayers who will accuse any website which isn't full of NFTs and virtual reality a backwards holdout. There is a difference, of course, between faux-utopian sentiment, the idea that the future will be a glorious impetus of progress, and rational futurism, which dictates that while some things will likely improve, others will remain the same, and the best we can do is ensure that the future is tolerable, given that the best possible outcome is virtually impossible to attain.

I was born much too late to really experience the Internet during its formative years. I hear a lot about what a wild west it was, how crazy it was, and so on, and despite all the nostalgia people seem to hold towards it I really don't feel very attached to it or anything, considering I never knew it. In fact, I do think a lot of the regulation passed on the Internet is beneficial to the Internet, and I think an unregulated Internet could quickly devolve into chaos. There is a balancing act to be kept, of course, between moderate Governmental regulation and outright censorship, which defeats the purpose of the Internet. Regardless, I do believe certain Internet legislation, such as the legislation which agrees that no one entity or power will have complete control over the Internet, is beneficial to the Internet.

I've often been accused by my detractors of attempting to exploit nostalgia by using technology such as VHS tapes, when in fact the opposite is true: I use VHS tapes because they are a really well-designed piece of technology. I'm not nostalgic for them, by the time I grew up DVDs had long since supplanted them. I only use them because they work better than every conceivable alternative. As a rational futurist, I accept that not all new technology is useful, and you don't always have to reinvent the wheel.

That's why I prefer small forums such as this- not because I'm nostalgic, or because I want to reminisce and mourn an Internet I never knew, but because I'm looking ahead to the future and recognizing the potential of small forums as a tool for open communication. In that regard, I guess you could say I'm more part of the minimal web than the retro web. It's a very interesting two-sided coin of innovation, and I wonder where it'll go from here.

[m15o]

This is such a fascinating topic! I amazed at the quality of the answers. What I love in this part of the internet is the focus on people. Regardless of the layout we use or the protocol we decide to publish in, we create because we can't not create, and we grow and learn from these connections with other human beings. We build our websites to learn who we are and as a gateway to our own universe. It creates a sense of intimacy, of vulnerability, one that reflects real feelings. The choice of technology is so interesting too: simple languages are harder to hack, the lack of interactivity reduces spam, not being on a platform reduces anxiety. We're not being alienated to build followers. We have fewer interactions, but deeper ones. Slow becomes a virtue!

[XTaran]

I have noticed that there are two different versions of "retro web revival" going around at the moment; the retro web revival best exemplified by this site and its community, and the anti-bloat or minimal web (which is not actually the "official" name for it but whatevs) that's a bit smaller but still very much up and coming.

Indeed. Actually I stumbled over the latter first on the rather minimal website of a good friend Matto.

the 1MB club

I'm a bit surprised to see the 1MB Club being cited here. From my point of view 1MB is already way off. I'd rather expected to see the 10kB Club or at least the 250kB Club cited here. There also seems to be a 512kB Club.

But what I actually miss is a 100kB Club. Mostly because my homepage is around 76kB.

And props to all those who manage to get into the 10kB Club.

Let me point out though that we are allies in disliking the modern web, not rivals, and I'm glad I'm here.

Well said.

Actually I think I'm probably more on the technical/minimalist side of it, not using many pictures but modern Unicode emoticons instead. And just decent CSS for the colors and layout. Then again alone the use of emoticons makes it being more on the expressive side.

I like Web Revival as an umbrella term for the two camps you have talked about plus a third, the Indieweb movement.

Indeed, that's more coming from the self-hosting movement (to which I consider myself belonging, too—actually for nearly two decades now). There are overlaps, but I think there's no real movement which completely unifies them as self-hosted still can mean bloaty. And the self-hosting movement again overlaps with the maker scene, mostly via the Raspberry Pi and similar single board computers.

[manpaint]

I think the best course of action is to make a site that lay between the two worlds.

I don't think that making a site with only html is the "correct" way to go but I don't think that the site content should be overblow with content either.

I believe the best approach is a website that only use HTML + CSS and being mindful of the size of the website.

For instance my personal neocities site (not the one linked here, but you can easily find it) weight about 460 Kb. The main graphic element is a smol 416 x 416 png image that is used as a background.

Aside from the main logo and some button, there is not much else aside text.

So I think it's possible to make a site that has a soul with minimal CSS while still being acessible to reader tools and terminals.

[Absentmind]

I personally love Retro Web, simply because I grew up with it! I spent a lot of time on the computer as a teenager and there is something both really nice and daunting that something you've personally experienced is now considered "nostalgic". I'm happy that it's getting the love it deserves. daunted that im now """"OLD!""""

Anyways, I was having a conversation about this with my lecturer the other day. He noted that a lot of old web stuff isn't really "designed" much like microsofts word art. it's this form of anti-design that just kind spawned due to people learning HTML. I like to think of it as cave painting but for computers haha.

Interestingly enough I had done a project on Brutalist Web Design that follows similar fundementals to Retro web design. It became popular around the same time the Retro web started kicking off again. You could consider Retro web to design to even be a part of Brutalist web design or atleast an off shoot of it. I'd say however that Brutalist web design itself is more self serving rather than being a community thing, which i suppose is fine.

Thought I'd throw that in there. Retro web inspired me to learn how tocode alongside Graphic Design!