I always thought the old GeoCities page layouts were just ugly, but today I get it

Found my band's GeoCities page from 2001 on the Wayback Machine last night. I used to cringe at the blinking text and tiled backgrounds, but my kid pointed out how much personality it had compared to a modern band site. Has anyone else warmed up to that old web chaos after hating it for years?

2 comments

2 Comments

lindaw2916h ago

I was just reading an article about how websites used to feel like actual places people made, not just templates. It's funny how we used to think the mess was bad but now it just looks like someone actually cared enough to build it themselves.

derek_burns4h ago

I heard a podcast where this guy was talking about how Geocities pages were basically digital clubhouses. Every single one had that "under construction" gif and a guestbook, and you could tell someone spent their weekend making it (poorly). Compared to now where everything is a Shopify store or a Squarespace template, it really does feel like we lost something. The mess was the point, you know? It showed personality.