🌐 The Old Web Project · Bring back the human web · own your space, own your media, keep the web weird 🌐

Bringing back the internet that’s ours — one page at a time.

Projects & initiatives

What we’re building

The Old Web Project is part advocacy, part workshop. These are the things we run, maintain, and grow — with more on the way.

The Old Web Directory & Webring

A curated directory of independent websites, connected the old-fashioned way: a webring with prev / next / random navigation and an 88×31 badge members embed on their own pages. No algorithm — just people’s sites, linked to each other.

Now in the ring

Crypt Keeper Archive A 1996-style Tales From The Crypt fan archive, wiki & horror-news tracker.
Living Dead Archive A 2001-style shrine to Night of the Living Dead (1968) — watch the public-domain film in a CRT TV.
Hey Vern! A loud, 1997-style fan tribute to Ernest P. Worrell & Jim Varney. KnoWhutIMean?
Race to the Shop A PS1-era 3D pickup racer on a 1996 CRT — race your truck to the shop, tucked inside Cox-Beasley Automotive.
Disco Bud Blitz A 16-bit arcade game in The Fox’s Lair — smash Budweiser bottles with a disco ball on a 1976 CRT.
ThwipNet A 1997-style Spider-Man fan site — movies, animated series, comics & heroes, with Spidey ripping through from another universe.

🎲 Visit a random site · ring.json

The Old Web Project member badge

Add this badge + nav to your footer and you’re part of the ring.

« Prev Random Next »

Get the badge & webring nav

Paste this into your site’s footer (swap YOUR_SITE_URL for your site’s address), then submit your site so we can add you.

<a href="https://theoldwebproject.org">
  <img src="https://theoldwebproject.org/badge.svg" width="88" height="31"
       alt="The Old Web Project member">
</a>
<a href="https://theoldwebproject.org/prev?from=YOUR_SITE_URL">&laquo; Prev</a>
<a href="https://theoldwebproject.org/random">Random</a>
<a href="https://theoldwebproject.org/next?from=YOUR_SITE_URL">Next &raquo;</a>

Preservation guides

Plain-language, no-jargon guides to owning your corner of the web. (In development — want to help write one? Get in touch.)

🏠

Build your first website

From a blank page to something that’s truly yours — no platform required.

🌐

Buy & keep a domain

Owning the address people type is the foundation of digital ownership.

💾

Back up your work

The 3-2-1 rule, in human terms, so nothing you make depends on one company.

📰

Follow with RSS

Subscribe to sites directly and escape the algorithmic feed for good.

📦

Archive endangered pages

Save what’s about to vanish to the Internet Archive and your own drive.

💿

Preserve physical media

Rip, store, and care for the discs and books you own.

Essays & research

Writing to make the case — for journalists, supporters, and the curious. (Forthcoming publications.)

  • The State of the Independent Web — an annual look at the health of the small web.
  • Why Personal Websites Matter — the case for owning your space.
  • The Problem With Platform Dependency — what you give up for convenience.
  • Why Physical Media Still Matters — ownership over rented access.
  • The Coming AI-Mediated Web — what happens when people stop visiting websites.

Future microgrants

As the project grows, we hope to offer small microgrants for archives and preservation projects — modest support for the volunteers quietly saving the web’s history. If that’s the kind of work you do, tell us about it.

🕐 The Old Web Time Machine

Type in any website and travel to its earliest surviving snapshot in the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine — see what it looked like back in the old web.

Or step into a classic: Apple · 1996 · Yahoo! · 1996 · Space Jam · 1996 · GeoCities · 1999

Snapshots courtesy of the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.