April 3, 2026
Retro pixels, modern pickles
I prefer OG style websites – what are yours?
Nostalgia clash: cozy retro web vs sleek new shine
TLDR: A thread asking for OG websites became a nostalgia showdown, with users linking relics like stallman.org and catcam.com. The community split: some want simple, fast pages, while others say modern design can be just as lean if you cut trackers, bloat, and popup-era bad habits.
A simple call for “OG websites” turned into a full-on internet family reunion — and yes, your Uncle Nostalgia showed up with receipts. The article warns against romanticizing the ’90s web (remember pop-up hell and Flash bloats?), but commenters came ready. gorfian_robot dropped museum pieces like showcaves.com and hmdb.org. omarish pulled the ultimate flex with “mine” and a link to omarish.com. Then azangru lobbed a love-hate grenade at stallman.org: “Very OG,” but also, someone crammed a 1.5MB image into a tiny box — not exactly minimalist. Meanwhile, the article’s author called one site’s News text “character soup,” sparking accessibility side-eye.
harrisonpage kept the time machine rolling with isp.netscape.com, compuserve.com, and the cult classic catcam.com — cue the meme: “not even https.” But bryanhogan wasn’t having the “old good, new bad” chant, warning that calling retro “function over style” is a trap, and praising the sleek-but-simple Astro Starlight. The vibe split into two camps: Team Retro chasing fast, text-first serenity, and Team Modern insisting today’s sites can be just as lean — if you ditch trackers, analytics, and bloated code. The only consensus? The villain isn’t JavaScript; it’s the junk we pile on top. Nostalgia is cute; performance is king.
Key Points
- •The article argues the 1990s web had diverse styles, not a single “old” aesthetic.
- •Early web designs often included intrusive elements like Java, Flash, and unchecked popups.
- •The author cites ucjeps.berkeley.edu as appearing modern, while noting readability issues in a site’s News section due to typography and spacing.
- •It cautions against nostalgic idealization of 1990s web design as inherently superior.
- •Modern sites can be fast, responsive, and accessible without JavaScript; the real issues are heavy tracking/analytics and poor optimization being treated as best practice.