is the retro side of the web revival big enough to warrant its own community?

[Frost Sheridan]

after some members (including me) mentioned the forum's sluggish performance on older computers in the forum feature requests thread, /home/user brought up an interesting point in their post. (i highly recommend reading the whole thing.)

I think this is one of the situations where you have to make a decision between the "retro web" and the "indie web", for the lack of better terms.

[...]

On these forums, both of these views on the web sometimes positively mix and inspire, and sometimes unfortunately clash, and I think @Melooon rightfully chose his own path here with the existing design decisions that have been made. His work is virtual worlds, art, and using the capabilities of modern technologies to make something new, albeit postmodernly inspired by the past, but with no intention to simply continue or build upon it directly. Melonland is not, as far as I understand, meant to be a retro web community specifically, instead it is meant to be a community bringing artists, people into virtual worlds and games, and people who like experimenting and creating chaos in the indie web in general, from all over the planet together.

they bring up that this forum's focus isn't on the older/retro web specifically - it's on using the capabilities of modern tech to create something new that's still inspired by the creativity of the old web - so it shouldn't be limited to the performance of older machines. this i totally understand, and i've noticed this split elsewhere in the web revival community as well. at the end of their post, they mention that if there's a big enough split between the retro and modern subcommunities in the web revival, it could warrant creating another community or forum with a focus specifically on the retro web and compatibility with retro tech.

i'm one of those people who's definitely in the retro camp - i'm very interested in early 2000s technology, web development, design, and aesthetics. i have quite a few older computers in service at the moment, and i enjoy using them for web browsing and other computing tasks as much as possible. i like seeing new websites being developed that are still fully compatible with older tech, because they're still very capable machines when given the chance.

i'm interested in there being a dedicated subcommunity (some kind of forum or chatroom maybe) specifically for this retro side of the web revival, but i'm not sure if there's enough interest within the web revival community for this to make sense. so my question is: is there anyone else here interested in such a thing, and do you think it's a good idea and worth the effort? or should we avoid fragmenting the existing community?

[Cobra!]

I don't think it warrants it's own community yet, as I've found many "indie web" sites do work on older browsers and machines.

I personally try to use new web technologies to create some cool stuff, but keep it compatible with older hardware. For example, I like to try and do cool tricks with CSS and Javascript on my Neocities sites, but I've also coded fallbacks for browsers that don't support them. Almost all of my Javascript elements are followed by a noscript to ensure as much works as possible without Javascript.

This probably holds back what new tech I can use a bit, but I think it's a nice compromise.

[Melooon]

I suppose I'm a bit bias on this topic - but I think the forum really needs you guys, so I would prefer to accommodate rather than see you go 

With that in mind; I made a VERY quick edit to the default theme called MelonLand 98 - It loosely stripes down the visual elements a lot - it runs an older version of jQuery for better script compatibility, and it optimises CSS and limits it to the CSS 2.0 standard.

You can select it from your Profile/Look Layout section - as I said in the requests topic; Iv no way to actually test it; so I'm curious to know if it helps!

[Frost Sheridan]

I suppose I'm a bit bias on this topic - but I think the forum really needs you guys, so I would prefer to accommodate rather than see you go 

i'm sorry if it sounded like i wanted to totally leave! i love the style and community you've built up here, so i definitely want to stay. i was just thinking about creating another community that could co-exist with this one (and the rest of the web revival scene) where older tech use and compatibility is the primary focus.

With that in mind; I made a VERY quick edit to the default theme called MelonLand 98 - It loosely stripes down the visual elements a lot - it runs an older version of jQuery for better script compatibility, and it optimises CSS and limits it to the CSS 2.0 standard.

that's awesome, thanks! later today i'll give it a try on my older PCs and report back on how it performs. it feels snappier even on the modern computer i'm using at the moment.

[Cobra!]

I honestly thought this forum would have been part of the retro wing, because people here are like me who geek and get excited over old tech. Heck, I got many into a 20 year old time format just by making a topic about it!

[Frost Sheridan]

You can select it from your Profile/Look Layout section - as I said in the requests topic; Iv no way to actually test it; so I'm curious to know if it helps!

quick update - i'm trying melonland 98 right now on my pentium 4 computer and it's running so much smoother. thanks again!

[Memory]

With that in mind; I made a VERY quick edit to the default theme called MelonLand 98 - It loosely stripes down the visual elements a lot - it runs an older version of jQuery for better script compatibility, and it optimises CSS and limits it to the CSS 2.0 standard.

I asked my girlfriend and she says that the new version is perfect for her epilepsy issues too compared to the default! ^^ She might even sign up. Tysm. :]

[Memory]

Very happy customer here. Icecat on the weak new machines of around 2010 is happy too and purrs on that Melonland 98 theme. The weather seems to be better too. When logging out... uh... cold shower...

It's impossible to live 100% in the stoneage, when using computers today. So even the most die-hard Windows 98 user has to make some compromises.
That being said, a high-class website looks good on everything. For the Smombie as for the Netscape stoneager alike.

Please no community splitting. It's much more interesting, when there is a bigger diversity over here, as long as the message board technology is accessable. In any case it's impossible to comment on everything, so everyone should build their site to their wish!

[Melooon]

A handy tip for you guys! If you bookmark the forum as https://forum.melonland.net/index.php?theme=6 it will load the MelonLand 98 theme even when you are logged out; that should save pain when login in/out 

[Memory]

I think people misunderstood what I was trying to say - I wasn't advocating for a community split, I was just wondering whether that was going to create conflict at some point (to anticipate and prevent it). I'm happy when we all stick together!