Above: typical chat on IRC in the 80s and 90s

Dear readers and customers,

we all have our roots and as such, of course there was a time before algorithms, a time of a highly personalised 90s web, which we know very well too.

So for today we’d like to share a nice piece of nostalgia with you from a time when the web was not even half as polished and more personalised compared to what it is today:

A Time Before Algorithms Took Over the 90’s Web.

Some gems from the text:

1. View Source to Learn HTML
   One of the most common “hacks” was simply right-clicking on a webpage and hitting “View Source.” This allowed you to peek at the HTML behind any website, copy it, and modify it to create your own site. Many amateurs like me learned coding by reverse-engineering other pages.
2. Hiding Easter Eggs:
   Websites were full of hidden Easter eggs, from secret links buried in seemingly random places to invisible text only visible by highlighting.
3. Customizing Mouse Cursors
   Changed the mouse cursor to something ridiculous like a sparkly wand or a rotating icon.
4. Unwanted Music
   Many websites would automatically play music (MIDI files were popular), usually without warning or a way to stop it. I did that too. Nobody complained back then!
5. Pop-Up Madness
   I quickly learned to use JavaScript to create endless pop-up windows as a prank. Some mischievous sites would trap visitors in a loop of windows, forcing them to either close them all manually or restart their browser or computer – one of the early forms of trolling!
6. HTML Marquee and Blink Tags
   For extra flair, many websites used the <marquee> tag to make text scroll across the screen, or the <blink> tag to make text flash. These tricks were respected and seen as a sign of creativity.
7. Under Construction Forever
   People loved to plaster their websites with flashing “Under Construction” GIFs, even if the site wasn’t actually being updated. This was a playful way to signal that you were working on something new, though often nothing ever changed! I did that too. The mystery was part of the charm.
8. ICQ “Spamming” and Custom Away Messages
   ICQ, one of the earliest instant messaging apps, allowed users to customize away messages with all sorts of weird ASCII art or status updates. And later yahoo messenger took it to the next level with custom sounds and notifications.
9. Free Internet with Trial Discs
   We used to have disks that offered free trials of internet service providers. I remember collecting them and using them to get online without paying for a subscription. I figured out that if you signed up using different email addresses or tweaked the trial periods, you could string together months of free internet access.
10. Hotlinking Bandwidth Theft
    Hotlinking was a common hack where people would steal images or media from another site by directly linking to them. This would use up the original site’s bandwidth, and some webmasters would combat it by replacing hotlinked images with something embarrassing for the thief.
11. Prank 404 Pages
    Many early websites featured custom 404 error pages that were often filled with jokes, riddles, or even taunts. These made the 90s web a bit more entertaining than just seeing a Page Not Found message. I remember talking to my friends about –

    Friend – What content should I add in my 404 page? It feels empty.

    Me – 404 is the real homepage. Add everything you have got.

    Its sily when I think about it. But owning a website was a badge of honor.

We hope you enjoy reading here as much as we did. We know exactly what’s going on here but for many readers today, this may be something completely new. Let’s try to preserve it in a way we all might have a smile for many years to come. 🙂

All the best,
the aethyx staff