Ask HN: What's the coolest website you know?
The definition of cool is, of course, at your discretion.
387 comments
Obviously wikipedia.org. Nothing better has been invented in 20-some years. I honestly feel relief when I research some topic and it has Wikipedia page on it, so I don't need to dig through some sh**y blogposts
Edit: I mean: it's one of the very few websites that actually provides sources of information. It's insane it's that rare these days. And most important facts are just placed in visible and easy to spot place, no need to dig through author's life story, thanks for subscribers etc. before getting to the point.
Edit: I mean: it's one of the very few websites that actually provides sources of information. It's insane it's that rare these days. And most important facts are just placed in visible and easy to spot place, no need to dig through author's life story, thanks for subscribers etc. before getting to the point.
Wikipedia is one of the greatest projects in the history of mankind. Very little compares to it in scale and value.
I think Open Street Map comes close.
Kinda, but Wikipedia is pretty universal, while open street map is limited to Earth.
When there is human-made pavement on another planet (or moon) I highly suspect OSM will model it.
This is more of a testament to HTTP/HTML though. It's a universal format for storing and retrieving information.
OpenStreetMap is, along with every other geo data project, limited by the common coordinate systems we have for storing and retrieving geospatial data -- and these are almost always planetary, not universal.
OpenStreetMap is, along with every other geo data project, limited by the common coordinate systems we have for storing and retrieving geospatial data -- and these are almost always planetary, not universal.
Some runner ups:
- Archive.org
- SciHub
- OpenStreetMaps
- Library Genesis
- TikTok (/s)
- Archive.org
- SciHub
- OpenStreetMaps
- Library Genesis
- TikTok (/s)
It’s hard to overstate the value of Wikipedia to humanity.
I hope there are lots of copies of it in government survival bunkers around the world.
I wonder if they keep an offline copy on ISS?
I hope there are lots of copies of it in government survival bunkers around the world.
I wonder if they keep an offline copy on ISS?
On a similar vein, TV Tropes. It's still mind-blowing to me having every form of creativity throughout history categorized into patterns.
Oh man, TV Tropes is fantastic! It always sends me down a rabbit hole!
Thanks for the reminder, just donated my bit to Wikipedia! :)
My most used site during the day is probably wiktionary. Most convenient dictionary out there.
Agree, Wikipedia is excellent. Blogs are cool too though and I don't think my searches tend to land on them.
I will agree, with an additional caveat that I particularly like the Simple English Wikipedia quite a lot (simple.wikipedia.org) if I need a quick understanding of a topic.
I’ve been meaning to donate to Wikipedia for a while now. Thanks for reminding me :)
Yes, Wikipedia is great. But PSA: its only great if we keep it great.
The coolest website I'm using is a very practical one.
https://geizhals.de is a German search website that allows you to very narrowly specify all kinds of things.
Searching for a mainboard with minimum 4x SATA ports and 64GB RAM support in mini ITX format? Easy peasy.
For example, take a look at the laptop category and its filters: https://geizhals.de/?cat=nb
I wish every e-commerce website was built like this.
https://geizhals.de is a German search website that allows you to very narrowly specify all kinds of things.
Searching for a mainboard with minimum 4x SATA ports and 64GB RAM support in mini ITX format? Easy peasy.
For example, take a look at the laptop category and its filters: https://geizhals.de/?cat=nb
I wish every e-commerce website was built like this.
I use this site all the time to find tech. Their filters are just insane.
Here are some filters I find interesting to use.
You can filter HDDs by recording technology: https://geizhals.de/?cat=hde7s&xf=8457_Conventional+Magnetic...
Similarly, it's possible to specify the storage cell type for SSDs. https://geizhals.de/?cat=hdssd&xf=16325_3
For RAM you can specify which memory rank you want and the actual ns operation times for most primary ram timings: https://geizhals.eu/?cat=ramddr3&xf=15554_10.6%7E439_dual
Sadly I don't buy through them very often, as they only show stores for Germany, Austria, Poland and the UK.
Here are some filters I find interesting to use.
You can filter HDDs by recording technology: https://geizhals.de/?cat=hde7s&xf=8457_Conventional+Magnetic...
Similarly, it's possible to specify the storage cell type for SSDs. https://geizhals.de/?cat=hdssd&xf=16325_3
For RAM you can specify which memory rank you want and the actual ns operation times for most primary ram timings: https://geizhals.eu/?cat=ramddr3&xf=15554_10.6%7E439_dual
Sadly I don't buy through them very often, as they only show stores for Germany, Austria, Poland and the UK.
Sadly I don't speak German and Google Translate doesn't play well with that site. Know any similar English sites?
you can change the language to english by clicking the flag in the upper-left corner and selecting `EU`
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I also applaud their user-respecting design choices. E.g. if your browser sets the DNT (do not track) header, they won't show a cookie consent banner and just assume you selected "reject all"
My sites don’t present a cookie banner to anyone, and don’t check for the DNT header. We simply don’t spy on our users. Any cookies we set are session and other “essential” cookies.
We do that for all sites we (a nonprofit / education / science / arts web agency) build. Seems like such a no-brainer to me - if someone has expressed a preference like that, you're only going to annoy them with a cookie popup, which they're most likely going to reject.
First time to see something like that oh god.
Geizhals is an amazing website. If you send them corrections or suggestions they will always respond.
My only criticism of geizhals is that you can't see items that aren't for sale anyonger unless you search for their names directly. For example you can't use geizhals to get a list of 5k monitors models sold in the last years (most of them are no longer on sale).
My only criticism of geizhals is that you can't see items that aren't for sale anyonger unless you search for their names directly. For example you can't use geizhals to get a list of 5k monitors models sold in the last years (most of them are no longer on sale).
Have you sent them that criticism or a related suggestion? You could suggest that they add a default-on filter for 'commercially available' or such.
Yes i've discussed it with them, they are unwilling to offer this service at the moment. I reckon the database is their crown jewel and they don't want to make it too easy to dump it.
I agree. In the past I've looked for potential upgrades of my outdated hardware and seen that they still list them on their website, but only if you already know the specific part numbers or model numbers of the hardware you're looking for.
Something like a "discovery" view would be nice where you could specify your requirements beforehand and then look for e.g. compatible parts that could be interesting.
Something like a "discovery" view would be nice where you could specify your requirements beforehand and then look for e.g. compatible parts that could be interesting.
AFAIR it’s also an example of a well managed perl code base.
Apparently, there's https://skinflint.co.uk/?cat=nb for UK, which could be more approachable for non-German-speakers :)
https://geizhals.eu/ is in English and if you then click on the EU flag (top left ) select the Union flag it takes you to skinflint.co.uk.
geizhals.eu is in fact not in english (I never visited it before and it shows in German by default). I can't immediately find a language selector. I don't have german in my preferred languages browser setting.
I'm visiting (first time) from the Americas and I am getting the English version
Interesting; maybe it's doing geolocation based on your IP address? It comes up in English for me (connecting from the UK).
Firefox, Sweden, always serving German. Not a problem, just curious
I am getting german, on the eu version, from France, with an english default browser setting...
It’s English for me (connecting from Japan), English in settings.
Small nitpick, geizhals is actually Austrian (although it operates in a number of markets, each with their own domain, like geizhals.de).
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Thank you, I was unaware that such sites exist.
It reminds me of the GSMArena's Phone Finder (https://www.gsmarena.com/search.php3?) which also allows specifying very narrow search criteria. But it is specific to phones and tablets only.
It reminds me of the GSMArena's Phone Finder (https://www.gsmarena.com/search.php3?) which also allows specifying very narrow search criteria. But it is specific to phones and tablets only.
I use https://kakaku.com in Japan for the same thing, it's great.
When I lived in Sweden, https://prisjakt.nu served the same purpose well
Sadly the filter options on kakaku are way inferior to Geizhals.
Would love to see a USA version of this.
Shopping.com (or shopper.com?) used to be like this 15-20 years ago.. then some company bought it and turned it into utter crap. Although looking at it again after a couple years, it does seem to offer a very basic version of price comparison with some basic filters, though with a very limited selection of sellers. About Us takes me to eBay which may explain why it's showing mostly eBay results.
https://www.mcmaster.com/ is fast. I've never been to Georgia, I don't live in the US, I don't even need hardware. But I still enjoy just clicking on random links and seeing a swift response.
What I like about it is that it's a no-BS e-commerce store, get in and get out.
I've seen people shopping for hardware on reddit say that the navigation is clunky and confusing, and IIRC they said the products are price-gouged?
I'd be curious to know what other users here with an eye for design think of it, and if they know of similar websites, as I've been working on a hardware e-commerce store (mainly for my own use) that uses a lot of the same principles of no-BS shopping, I'm supposed to present it to my mentor next week
Also, a lot of the speed is pretty standard with most frameworks, they did a good job of blending in the slow loading bits into something that feels fast. Overall It's a great website and I'm sure it makes lots of sales
I've seen people shopping for hardware on reddit say that the navigation is clunky and confusing, and IIRC they said the products are price-gouged?
I'd be curious to know what other users here with an eye for design think of it, and if they know of similar websites, as I've been working on a hardware e-commerce store (mainly for my own use) that uses a lot of the same principles of no-BS shopping, I'm supposed to present it to my mentor next week
Also, a lot of the speed is pretty standard with most frameworks, they did a good job of blending in the slow loading bits into something that feels fast. Overall It's a great website and I'm sure it makes lots of sales
Mech engineer here. We truly buy everything we can for our company from here. If you order by 6pm and select ground shipping, it comes the next day by 11am, and we’re in Boston where the closest warehouses are NJ and Chicago.
Also they have the best return policy. If you don’t like it, send it back and they will reimburse you without asking a single question.
Lastly, part of the no-BS aspect is that no brands are given most of the time. You need test leads for a bench top multimeter? They offer whatever length or specs you want, and any of the ones you choose will be high quality and most likely made in the US (in my example, all their test leads are Pomona brand). The ability not to have to sift through Amazon reviews or decide whether a premium brand is worth it is easily worth the extra cost.
Also they have the best return policy. If you don’t like it, send it back and they will reimburse you without asking a single question.
Lastly, part of the no-BS aspect is that no brands are given most of the time. You need test leads for a bench top multimeter? They offer whatever length or specs you want, and any of the ones you choose will be high quality and most likely made in the US (in my example, all their test leads are Pomona brand). The ability not to have to sift through Amazon reviews or decide whether a premium brand is worth it is easily worth the extra cost.
> Also they have the best return policy. If you don’t like it, send it back and they will reimburse you without asking a single question.
Sometimes I forget how good we have it in Europe. In the EU we have a pretty close to universal [0] 14 day no questions asked return period for all online purchases. You occasionally get a crappy retailer who tries to push back but one link to this document stops that pretty quickly.
[0] https://www.google.com/amp/s/europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/c...
Sometimes I forget how good we have it in Europe. In the EU we have a pretty close to universal [0] 14 day no questions asked return period for all online purchases. You occasionally get a crappy retailer who tries to push back but one link to this document stops that pretty quickly.
[0] https://www.google.com/amp/s/europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/c...
Thanks for that - I replied from mobile and Firefox hides the URL by default so I didn't notice!
> I've seen people shopping for hardware on reddit say that the navigation is clunky and confusing, and IIRC they said the products are price-gouged?
I think these people are used to shopping from Amazon and Home Depot. They can get their bolts and random specialty items and it comes cheap. When you’re talking about a quality, precision piece of hardware, one where you know the manufacture and have reliable dimensions (and probably even a CAD model) it comes at a price. And if you’re working On something that matters, especially if this is your business, you’re willing to pay for that.
I think these people are used to shopping from Amazon and Home Depot. They can get their bolts and random specialty items and it comes cheap. When you’re talking about a quality, precision piece of hardware, one where you know the manufacture and have reliable dimensions (and probably even a CAD model) it comes at a price. And if you’re working On something that matters, especially if this is your business, you’re willing to pay for that.
Yup, you see the same thing in industrial automation, even Automation Direct[1] which is on the cheap end is going to be 5-10x what HD/consumer options are. That said you know what you're getting and also that you'll be able to get support/replacement parts on short notice(I had one of their flow sensors go bad on me and they RMA'd + shipped with absolutely zero hassle).
[1] https://www.automationdirect.com
[1] https://www.automationdirect.com
I love the UI. You know what's clunky? Amazon. Amazon's UI is awful and their search is the worst (it's just about useless and I think that's by design.) It looks pretty though and I doubt you'll hear people on Reddit complaining about it.
As a ME, I used to manage a lab in a large corporation. McMasterCarr is ingrained in the US engineering culture. Every lab has a 5 inch thick yellow catalog.
Also Thorlabs. Everytime I'd open their shipment, it'd include Lab Snacks™. I wrote about it here [1]. Both are awesome companies to deal with.
[1] https://neil.computer/notes/thorlabs-lab-snacks/
Also Thorlabs. Everytime I'd open their shipment, it'd include Lab Snacks™. I wrote about it here [1]. Both are awesome companies to deal with.
[1] https://neil.computer/notes/thorlabs-lab-snacks/
I’ve always wanted one of their printed catalogs. I’ve heard you’ve “made it” when they put you on the free catalog list.
> What I like about it is that it's a no-BS e-commerce store, get in and get out.
https://www.rockauto.com is like also.
https://www.rockauto.com is like also.
We buy a ton from there. The price is a little high but not enough to matter unless its a significant part of your expenses. They save me money on balance by being fast and convenient.
I'm a huge fan of their website.
I'm a huge fan of their website.
Is it just me, or did they custom/hand-draw all the illustrations for the hardware being sold?
And man, the UI is brilliant. Straight and to the point - just enough complexity to handle what they're selling, without the clunkiness of Amazon's UI.
And man, the UI is brilliant. Straight and to the point - just enough complexity to handle what they're selling, without the clunkiness of Amazon's UI.
Yep and the downloadable 3D files are especially helpful when designing with those parts in mind!
In a similar vein, I enjoy looking through ULine's website:
https://www.uline.com/
Everything looks satisfyingly clean and useful. I almost never buy anything from them, but sometimes I end up the site and go down a rabbit hole.
https://www.uline.com/
Everything looks satisfyingly clean and useful. I almost never buy anything from them, but sometimes I end up the site and go down a rabbit hole.
RS components https://uk.rs-online.com/web/ is the British equivalent. Also used to have an epic paper catalogue that came in 5 volumes.
Pretty amazing company. They're a big Ruby on Rails shop. At least they were back in 2016. FYI, I was offered a position there but didn't take it up due to long commute.
And it supports App clips that are just as swift and not bogged down by the app clip size.
Wow! Does anyone know what is built on and how it is this fast?
I don't know if they still have it but they used to have a giant catalog that was the same thing in paper form. Super thin paper thousands of pages of just random stuff.
You can flip through one from 2012 on the Internet Archive! https://archive.org/details/mcmaster-118_202012
McMaster is really cool, but not for the quick response time of their website (its actually not very fast)... the wide variety of parts available is why I like them.
And they have great products. Little expensive but you will know you're getting good product 100%.
I love that. That's my homestate and I hope GA continues to grow and thrive.
That is cool! Anyone know the tech behind it?
Looking at the page code, it appears that their main 'secret' is pre-loading the images for the page that are one-level deeper.
They appear to be using the Backbone.js/Marionette framework, which is super hardcore but also dates when this site was probably developed (I can't remember the last time I saw Backbone in the wild!)
https://builtwith.com/?https%3a%2f%2fwww.mcmaster.com%2f
https://builtwith.com/?https%3a%2f%2fwww.mcmaster.com%2f
It looks like something achievable with SPA frameworks such as next.js
In the spirit of clarification / correction (vs pedantry), SPA is a client-side web architecture pattern, whereas Next.js is a web framework best known for its support for rendering outside the browser (SSR and SSG).
Thanks. Terminology aside, what I referred to was exactly Next.js's pre-rendering (SSR & SSG) and prefetching. I feel like without them it'll be harder to achieve OP's interactivity with just React/Vue.
React / Vue is also irrelevant here however. It all depends how your actual prod code is built in the end. (For example you can use React with Next.js and still do all the SSR SSG stuff) In this case you're writing React for your server side rendered pages as opposed to the 'traditional' pattern of an SPA where everything happens in the client.
Might also be using the native Context Index API.[0] That's usually used to allow sites to be downloaded and browsed offline. I think that's how SVGOMG does it too
[0] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Content_Ind...
[0] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Content_Ind...
This mechanical watch explanation: https://ciechanow.ski/mechanical-watch/
Everything he makes is great, I'd also highly recommend the GPS explanation.
His floating point representation is so good that middle schoolers can understand it:
https://ciechanow.ski/exposing-floating-point/
https://ciechanow.ski/exposing-floating-point/
Wow. This guy makes amazing stuff. That's what I call beautifully harnessing the power of web technologies to explain things.
if it's the one I'm thinking of.. i spent like 4 hours reading that and still didn't finish, but every bit was amazing
Truly fantastic and well made!
At the end, concludes with:
> Mechanical watches are not as accurate as digital ones. They require maintenance and are more fragile. Despite all these drawbacks, these devices show a true mastery of engineering. With creative use of miniature gears, levers, and springs, a mechanical watch rises from its dormant components to become truly alive.
And to an extent, I can agree that figuring out and building such a tiny mechanic is truly genius. But so is figuring out the digital electronics devices, even if they seem much less sexy.
What we should really be thankful for are those geniuses who figured out all those technologies and put their powers in the hand of the mere mortals.
I don't need to be able to understand the inners of the computer, but can still make use of its power to the benefit of others.
At the end, concludes with:
> Mechanical watches are not as accurate as digital ones. They require maintenance and are more fragile. Despite all these drawbacks, these devices show a true mastery of engineering. With creative use of miniature gears, levers, and springs, a mechanical watch rises from its dormant components to become truly alive.
And to an extent, I can agree that figuring out and building such a tiny mechanic is truly genius. But so is figuring out the digital electronics devices, even if they seem much less sexy.
What we should really be thankful for are those geniuses who figured out all those technologies and put their powers in the hand of the mere mortals.
I don't need to be able to understand the inners of the computer, but can still make use of its power to the benefit of others.
So this is clearly amazing, but on the topic of page design for my future reference, can any frontend people tell me whether there is an effective way to avoid the 'i want to scroll but interacted with the graphic' effect?
That's insane.
And many of the other pages on the same site.
a passion project for sure
This is fantastic
Just beautiful
http://worrydream.com/
Bret Victor's visual / interactive explanations of certain ideas or papers.
Two that I like in particular are his redesign of Strogatz's paper on small world networks and the 'ladder of abstraction'
http://worrydream.com/ScientificCommunicationAsSequentialArt...
http://worrydream.com/LadderOfAbstraction/
Bret Victor's visual / interactive explanations of certain ideas or papers.
Two that I like in particular are his redesign of Strogatz's paper on small world networks and the 'ladder of abstraction'
http://worrydream.com/ScientificCommunicationAsSequentialArt...
http://worrydream.com/LadderOfAbstraction/
Learnable Programming is another really good one:
http://worrydream.com/#!/LearnableProgramming
One of the most inspiring pieces I've ever read.
http://worrydream.com/#!/LearnableProgramming
One of the most inspiring pieces I've ever read.
Unfortunately impossible to read on my mini screen…
Seems like the viewport is fixed so zoom is disallowed. (Sites should never do this.)
Seems like the viewport is fixed so zoom is disallowed. (Sites should never do this.)
Fast loading, authentic community, consistent experience, smart fresh perspectives
https://news.ycombinator.com/news
https://news.ycombinator.com/news
I’ve mentioned a couple of times on here before: I downgraded my data plan during Covid, and haven’t bothered to increase it yet. Oh my plan, it goes to 100kbps once I run out of data. Once that happens I mostly just read hackernews comments. It works perfectly. Google search also works ok, google maps works with patience, and virtually nothing else will even load.
I spent a few months with extremely slow (single digit KB/s) internet. As you say HN is basically the only usable site. Even HN loaded very slowly though, so I would read it through w3m (text mode web browser) over Mosh (more efficient than SSH).
-- Worth mentioning that many sites will be difficult or unusable in a text mode browser, so I recommend Browsh which renders them (in Firefox?) and then converts the image to colorful, pixelated terminal art—it supports mouse and everything! (The word "recommend" is a bit strong here, but if your internet is bad enough and you need to get something done, it may be the only way to do it.)
I had to actually plan my media downloads ahead—I'd collect a list of podcasts / lectures to download and then fetch them all when I had access to decent wifi. Eventually I made an elaborate series of bash scripts with a php frontend to extract audio from youtube lectures and convert it to Opus, to save money on my fast but expensive mobile data.
I even set up my own internet radio station, an Opus proxy for Lofi Beats to Relax and Study... as they say, necessity is the mother of invention... or at least the mother of reading a bunch of icecast manpages... Wouldn't want to repeat the experience, but it was very educational!
Right now I'm on a metered connection (5GB/day), so I set my Steam download speed low enough to spread a 12GB download over 3 days... brings me back to the old days hahah.
-- Worth mentioning that many sites will be difficult or unusable in a text mode browser, so I recommend Browsh which renders them (in Firefox?) and then converts the image to colorful, pixelated terminal art—it supports mouse and everything! (The word "recommend" is a bit strong here, but if your internet is bad enough and you need to get something done, it may be the only way to do it.)
I had to actually plan my media downloads ahead—I'd collect a list of podcasts / lectures to download and then fetch them all when I had access to decent wifi. Eventually I made an elaborate series of bash scripts with a php frontend to extract audio from youtube lectures and convert it to Opus, to save money on my fast but expensive mobile data.
I even set up my own internet radio station, an Opus proxy for Lofi Beats to Relax and Study... as they say, necessity is the mother of invention... or at least the mother of reading a bunch of icecast manpages... Wouldn't want to repeat the experience, but it was very educational!
Right now I'm on a metered connection (5GB/day), so I set my Steam download speed low enough to spread a 12GB download over 3 days... brings me back to the old days hahah.
Unlike the old days, though, you have to actively not download data, as opposed to not actively download data. For example, make sure synching to the cloud is off (moving a folder, especially if you’re not always connected can easily be an accidental replias of 10GB), making sure an OS update won’t be downloaded (easy on windows but not easy on MacOS except in the case of iPhone tethering), and be careful about browsing (Reddit or news sites can easily use hundreds of MB in a few minutes).
Little Snitch (Mac) can be very helpful in these situations. When I'm on the road and using my limited phone data for internet, I turn on the 'limited' profile where Little Snitch doesn't allow most internet traffic (with some exceptions).
Try browsh in mosh like others have mentioned, but also Opera Mini. Download Microemulator from https://storage.googleapis.com/google-code-archive-downloads..., and use curl or wget (not a browser) to download http://m.opera.com/mini.jad . Next run microemulator, set the device to "resizable", and open the mini.jad file (the menu item is "Load MIDlet from file" or something similar) you downloaded. Opera Mini works pretty well on bad connections, though every so often it shows an interstitial ad for an Opera site. Also, don't use it for logging in to things, it proxies all pages through its servers so it would be able to see your passwords. The Android version is bad, don't use it.
https://lite.cnn.com/ and https://text.npr.org/ also should work.
A lot of other stuff will load if you turn off CSS, JavaScript, images, video etc. uBlock Origin or uMatrix can be configured to do this.
Ever get people telling you to RTFA?
Seems like you’ve successfully death kissed it.
https://c82.net/
https://fabiensanglard.net/
https://paulstamatiou.com/
https://www.arun.is/
https://ciechanow.ski/
https://simone.computer/
https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/
https://c82.net/ a designers website with impressive visualizations and artwork
https://fabiensanglard.net/ a personal website with interesting side projects and lots of technical details
https://paulstamatiou.com/ photography, technology and design with in-depth articles and detailed travel photosets
https://www.arun.is/ a visually-rich blog that dives deep into how design and technology shape our lives
https://ciechanow.ski/ detailed explanations and illustrations of technology
https://simone.computer/ a personal website designed like an old computer
https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/ The world's biggest collection of classic text mode fonts, system fonts and BIOS fonts from DOS-era IBM PCs and compatibles
https://fabiensanglard.net/ a personal website with interesting side projects and lots of technical details
https://paulstamatiou.com/ photography, technology and design with in-depth articles and detailed travel photosets
https://www.arun.is/ a visually-rich blog that dives deep into how design and technology shape our lives
https://ciechanow.ski/ detailed explanations and illustrations of technology
https://simone.computer/ a personal website designed like an old computer
https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/ The world's biggest collection of classic text mode fonts, system fonts and BIOS fonts from DOS-era IBM PCs and compatibles
Thank you for all the description, you rock !
Thank you for putting me on this list, I really appreciated
I like your website too, you obviously put a lot of love into it.
How much for exclusive access to the light bulb? :) Great site.
Really good LCD you have there, no ghosting..
Your website is so cool :-)
i really love your website
a one line description of each of these would be nice
https://apolloinrealtime.org
Lets you listen to the full audio of three Apollo missions. Not only the official mix, but also behind the scenes stuff, like flight dynamics officer, computer supervisor, etc.
Not only is it interesting to hear what engineers on a mission sounded like in that somewhat early NASA environment, but it's also a pleasant background track.
Lets you listen to the full audio of three Apollo missions. Not only the official mix, but also behind the scenes stuff, like flight dynamics officer, computer supervisor, etc.
Not only is it interesting to hear what engineers on a mission sounded like in that somewhat early NASA environment, but it's also a pleasant background track.
The coolest website I've seen lately is http://howacarworks.com. It's a video course in which an experienced mechanic breaks down a car into all its constituent parts then puts everything back together piece by piece, explaining in detail how everything works and fits together.
I knew nothing about mechanics before starting this series and I'm very impressed by how informative and professionally made the content is. Well worth the price tag (currently discounted as it's still in prerelease, but lots of videos have already been published.)
(Note: I have no affiliation with the creator of this course and have nothing to gain by promoting him; I'm just a happy customer.)
I knew nothing about mechanics before starting this series and I'm very impressed by how informative and professionally made the content is. Well worth the price tag (currently discounted as it's still in prerelease, but lots of videos have already been published.)
(Note: I have no affiliation with the creator of this course and have nothing to gain by promoting him; I'm just a happy customer.)
https://www.gwern.net/index
No, I'm not trolling. This is one of the coolest websites I've ever seen, despite it being a personal blog and having no fancy animations. ps: the coolest "site", not the coolest content of the site. While it is very good too in this case.
No, I'm not trolling. This is one of the coolest websites I've ever seen, despite it being a personal blog and having no fancy animations. ps: the coolest "site", not the coolest content of the site. While it is very good too in this case.
I just learned the term insight porn, thank you.
My favorite one-man Wikipedia.
He's also an active HN participant [1]. Definitely high quality.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=gwern
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=gwern
The Cutting Room Floor - Research on unused and cut video game content. Definitely one of my all time favorite sites to spend spare time on.
https://tcrf.net
Ken Fern's Plant databases https://theferns.info/
U2-3 - The Famous 1000 copies of U2's first ever release https://www.u2-3.com/
Dana Countryman's Virtual Museum of Unusual LP Cover Art (may contain some albeit low quality NSFW artwork) http://www.danacountryman.com/danacovers/danacovers.html
One Terabyte of Kilobyte Age - Digging through the Geocities Torrent https://blog.geocities.institute/
and finally, The End Of The Internet https://hmpg.net/
I've kept a bit of a running list on my site here: https://jason.nabein.me/#links
Ken Fern's Plant databases https://theferns.info/
U2-3 - The Famous 1000 copies of U2's first ever release https://www.u2-3.com/
Dana Countryman's Virtual Museum of Unusual LP Cover Art (may contain some albeit low quality NSFW artwork) http://www.danacountryman.com/danacovers/danacovers.html
One Terabyte of Kilobyte Age - Digging through the Geocities Torrent https://blog.geocities.institute/
and finally, The End Of The Internet https://hmpg.net/
I've kept a bit of a running list on my site here: https://jason.nabein.me/#links
TCRF is fantastic. I consider it half of a duo, along with https://www.unseen64.net/
100% agree! Unseen64 unearths some seriously cool stuff. I think an even equal pairing to unseen64, and in the same vein TCRF, is https://hiddenpalace.org/
What Unseen64 and HiddenPalace find and preserve is seriously invaluable in this area of interest.
What Unseen64 and HiddenPalace find and preserve is seriously invaluable in this area of interest.
https://earth.nullschool.net/
By far and away my favourite site of all time.
It’s a beautiful example of representing complex data in a manner that’s easy to digest, viscerally understand, even.
It’s also the first time I heard of the Misery Index, which was fun to learn about.
By far and away my favourite site of all time.
It’s a beautiful example of representing complex data in a manner that’s easy to digest, viscerally understand, even.
It’s also the first time I heard of the Misery Index, which was fun to learn about.
Looks a bit like https://www.windy.com/
Usually living in the tropics or at least near a coast, this website is invaluable to me to have an idea of what the weather is looking like. Local coverage is kind of lackluster in comparasion.
What's going on w/ CO2 off the coast of NJ, algae bloom or something?
No azimuthal equidistant projections :((((( (best for navigation)
Thanks for that!
I love this:
https://river-runner-global.samlearner.com/
Click on any spot on Earth and see where a raindrop there will flow until it reaches an ocean.
https://river-runner-global.samlearner.com/
Click on any spot on Earth and see where a raindrop there will flow until it reaches an ocean.
One of my engineering professors still has a Web 1.0 site, "best viewed in Netscape Communicator 4.0 or higher at 16 or 24-bit color". It's actively updated, but hasn't fundamentally changed since the late 90s - some pages still have the Netscape Composer generator tags in them. (For further frame of reference: I last had a reason to go to it over ten years ago now, but still bring it up as a talking piece.
https://people.rit.edu/meseec/
https://people.rit.edu/meseec/
Those flares guarding the table layout image links.
This made me nostalgic. There was something special about those days. Also, I haven’t seen the HTML Writers Guild logo for a long time.
Dr Shaaban was my advisor for my MS, a little over 10 years ago! We probably overlapped there...
Lots of great sites among the RIT profs.
Lots of great sites among the RIT profs.
It's like how the web was originally meant to be used. Your own little corner of self expression and memories
"WHAT YEAR IS THIS!?"
The coolest website I know right now is https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/.
It’s a solar powered, self hosted version of Low Tech Magazine. The articles are always interesting, but there’s also a ton of good information about efficient website design as well [0].
[0] https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/about.html#how
It’s a solar powered, self hosted version of Low Tech Magazine. The articles are always interesting, but there’s also a ton of good information about efficient website design as well [0].
[0] https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/about.html#how
Since about 1998, whenever I need a rickroll-style URL placeholder for whatever reason, I use zombocom.
This is my favorite website ever, because, quite simply, you can do anything at Zombocom.
For those who don't get it, in the late 90's there was a distinct sense that internet websites might just solve all of the world's problems, and we just hadn't imagined yet how it was going to happen, and most people hadn't really been online yet.
This is my favorite website ever, because, quite simply, you can do anything at Zombocom.
For those who don't get it, in the late 90's there was a distinct sense that internet websites might just solve all of the world's problems, and we just hadn't imagined yet how it was going to happen, and most people hadn't really been online yet.
Looking back I think the optimism for the internet in the 90s and early 2000s wasn't nearly as inaccurate as everyone says it was. There was certainly a lot of nonsense but I think most of what people thought would happen did end up happening, it just took decades instead of a few years.
The only limit…
…
…
is yourself.
…
…
is yourself.
What we got wrong was if you build something awesome people will find you. It was true but it is not anymore.
It is true, if you know where to look. Twitter has many interesting creators I follow, both in tech and in other fields. Instagram similarly has many good photographers and artists I follow in many different styles as well.
Wise words. As someone working in ML, I feel this holds equally true for AI
>For those who don't get it, in the late 90's there was a distinct sense that internet websites might just solve all of the world's problems, and we just hadn't imagined yet how it was going to happen, and most people hadn't really been online yet.
wasn't it more of a parody of those long and elaborate flash intros that websites used to have?
wasn't it more of a parody of those long and elaborate flash intros that websites used to have?
Definitely, but it also addressed something I'm trying to tease-out here.
For people who had never really used computers, and had not been online, the buzz about how the Information Superhighway was going to change everyone's life was enigmatic at best.
This led to all manner of fantasy, and a yearning to make the connection and discover what was going to happen - to be a part of it, to converge - with, or without, a good technical understanding. There's something of this irony in Zombocom.
There's a great 80's Neue Deuetsche Welle song by Paso Doble with which I am practically obsessed, which captures some of the very weird fantastical dream-con-fusion of human and machine, love and logic, flesh and silicon. For the non-tech artists, it was (is?) a rich place to play:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l5Pyg_pSYw&list=PLHgJlrCztl... "The modules are going crazy -- Man, I'm totally in love"
For people who had never really used computers, and had not been online, the buzz about how the Information Superhighway was going to change everyone's life was enigmatic at best.
This led to all manner of fantasy, and a yearning to make the connection and discover what was going to happen - to be a part of it, to converge - with, or without, a good technical understanding. There's something of this irony in Zombocom.
There's a great 80's Neue Deuetsche Welle song by Paso Doble with which I am practically obsessed, which captures some of the very weird fantastical dream-con-fusion of human and machine, love and logic, flesh and silicon. For the non-tech artists, it was (is?) a rich place to play:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l5Pyg_pSYw&list=PLHgJlrCztl... "The modules are going crazy -- Man, I'm totally in love"
To experience the browser in a modern browser check out:
https://html5zombo.com/
* The Perseus Project: searchable Classical texts in the original language or in translation. Etymological and philological study tool from the gods.This thing has looked this way since at least 2003. Show me a more awesome website, I dare you: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/collections
* Nietzsche Source. Searchable, digitized collection of the complete works, as well as scans of original manuscripts, etc! http://www.nietzschesource.org/#eKGWB
* WebSDR - control a short-wave receiver located at the amateur radio club ETGD at the University of Twente, complete with chatbox: http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/
* Nietzsche Source. Searchable, digitized collection of the complete works, as well as scans of original manuscripts, etc! http://www.nietzschesource.org/#eKGWB
* WebSDR - control a short-wave receiver located at the amateur radio club ETGD at the University of Twente, complete with chatbox: http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/
If the Moon Were Only One Pixel [1] is my go-to data visualization to share with people who haven't thought about the scale of the solar system that much.
[1] https://joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pixelspace_solarsystem....
[1] https://joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pixelspace_solarsystem....
https://www.thiswebsitewillselfdestruct.com
Wholesome, fascinating insight into the inner thoughts of some people, and shows us how tenuous the human connections we make on the internet can feel sometimes.. how lonely some of us can be.
Wholesome, fascinating insight into the inner thoughts of some people, and shows us how tenuous the human connections we make on the internet can feel sometimes.. how lonely some of us can be.
Dear Website,
To reach a port, we must set sail.
---
This is what I got when I first clicked through it. There are some very interesting motivational messages in there, as well as some very sad ones, many people grieving or pining for a lost love.
To reach a port, we must set sail.
---
This is what I got when I first clicked through it. There are some very interesting motivational messages in there, as well as some very sad ones, many people grieving or pining for a lost love.
This was a great idea. I expect it'll be alive for a long time yet. Some messages on there I really wish I could respond to, but I do realize that would ruin it.
Forgot all about this site until now... Much better than Twitter!
I wish it was searchable, that would be crazy to play around with.
thiswebsitewillselfdestruct is honestly one of the only places on the internet that allows anonymous writing that has a majority wholesome and meaningful content.
You don't go to that website looking for internet updoots, you go to that website because you have something to say, but no one to say it to.
https://dannyreviews.com/ (ramblings of a pathologically eclectic generalist) has a vast range of book reviews for the intellectually curious.
All reviews by Danny Yee
All reviews by Danny Yee
Something about the phrase "ramblings of a pathologically eclectic generalist" smacks of egotism to me, I dunno why but it just seems a turn-off. It feels like saying "I'm just deeply interesting, I can't help it, it's just who I am."
I hear it the opposite. Like an admission that they failed to focus on anything in particular and than their reviews may be pretty useless for that reason.
Interesting.
Would you say we all need to be single minded specialists/experts?
Would you say we all need to be single minded specialists/experts?
His best books section is quite interesting, because he's read about 1.6k books and there's only a couple on there, suggesting those are probably some high quality reads.
https://dannyreviews.com/mypubs.html#nonfiction
I'm also struck by the quality of his writing. These are some short and light reviews. Very thoughtful.
https://dannyreviews.com/mypubs.html#nonfiction
I'm also struck by the quality of his writing. These are some short and light reviews. Very thoughtful.
Yamauchi No.10 Family Office: https://y-n10.com/
Thanks for sharing this one. The Philosophy is interesting to read, particularly #3:
> …so that we may be able to return our inherited material and spiritual wealth to the public
> …so that we may be able to return our inherited material and spiritual wealth to the public
Ian’s Shoelace Site: https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/
https://arngren.net/
I like how insane this Norwegian mail order website is.
I like how insane this Norwegian mail order website is.
Arngren is amazing. When I was UX lead at a big e-commerce retailer I spent a lot of time looking at that site.
You might also enjoy Yvette’s Bridal Formal. It’s the good, old, weird, outsider art web that you just don’t get now. Didn’t really get it then either but this is something special.
https://yvettesbridalformal.p1r8.net/links.html
You might also enjoy Yvette’s Bridal Formal. It’s the good, old, weird, outsider art web that you just don’t get now. Didn’t really get it then either but this is something special.
https://yvettesbridalformal.p1r8.net/links.html
Hah that's insanity! Definitely within the same perigee as arngren.net
Reminds me of https://www.lingscars.com/
Really not sure how to describe it but I love the layout of this. It fully reminds of me old print mail-order catalogues which always had all sorts of zany products. Although here, things for sale all seem quite practical to the right person :)
https://everynoise.com
Search for your favorite bands using the bar at the top right corner. Find the associated playlist on Spotify via "The Sound Of X" where X is the genre name.
If you have (or would like to have) diverse musical tastes this is the best way to do it!
Search for your favorite bands using the bar at the top right corner. Find the associated playlist on Spotify via "The Sound Of X" where X is the genre name.
If you have (or would like to have) diverse musical tastes this is the best way to do it!
Way too dependent on Spotify.
Solar-powered website: https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/about.html
The Best Page In The Universe is pretty cool: http://maddox.xmission.com/
I still love The Best Page In The Universe. His opinionated, rude articles about low-stakes topics are really cathartic to read.
Maddox lost
I’m confused. Did the ‘Rona get him? Or are you referring to a lawsuit?
He lost the lawsuit, but he hasn't posted anything on his site or twitter since early 2021.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maddox_(writer)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maddox_(writer)
The USGS LIDAR maps. https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-lidar-data-and-where-can-i-do... ... direct links from https://prd-tnm.s3.amazonaws.com/LidarExplorer/index.html#/ then click an area and on the right click an icon to bring up a point cloud viewer... it's fiddly, but incredible.
This site for its depth on a niche subject (nike missiles): http://ed-thelen.org/
and for military telecom: https://www.electrospaces.net/p/index_15.html
similarly, for another niche (very old computers): http://bitsavers.org
Evan Amos pictures of game consoles on wikipedia are pretty cool because of how comprehensive they are. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Evan-Amos
nostalgia http://16colo.rs
This site for its depth on a niche subject (nike missiles): http://ed-thelen.org/
and for military telecom: https://www.electrospaces.net/p/index_15.html
similarly, for another niche (very old computers): http://bitsavers.org
Evan Amos pictures of game consoles on wikipedia are pretty cool because of how comprehensive they are. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Evan-Amos
nostalgia http://16colo.rs
https://oskarstalberg.com/Townscaper/
thrillingly designed, and amazing what can be done in WebGL
thrillingly designed, and amazing what can be done in WebGL
Ingenious
The Chromium source code browser: https://source.chromium.org/chromium/chromium/src
It’s super fast with their jump to reference/declaration. Still curious what’s actually driving it. Looks like some sort of lightweight git/VCS browsing app. Does anyone here know more about it?
It’s super fast with their jump to reference/declaration. Still curious what’s actually driving it. Looks like some sort of lightweight git/VCS browsing app. Does anyone here know more about it?
This looks very similar to Google's internal code search.
I imagine it's built on the same infrastructure.
http://www.thekeyboard.org.uk/
Without a doubt, one of my favorite sites to go reading through. I find every article fascinating, and love that it's still got that retro look and hasn't changed in years.
Without a doubt, one of my favorite sites to go reading through. I find every article fascinating, and love that it's still got that retro look and hasn't changed in years.
Really nice, thanks!
https://nathan.tokyo is pure art.
Each element has its own micro-interaction on hover.
Each element has its own micro-interaction on hover.
Yamauchi No.10 Family Office: https://y-n10.com
The Red Blob Games website: "I make interactive visual explanations of math and algorithms, using motivating examples from computer games"
The interactive elements help so much in explaining complex ideas. An example post that is incredible is: https://www.redblobgames.com/grids/hexagons/
The interactive elements help so much in explaining complex ideas. An example post that is incredible is: https://www.redblobgames.com/grids/hexagons/
This was the first page that popped into my head as well.
-- for as long as i can remember things i've like on the internet - always liked gnod: https://www.gnod.com/ --
Thank you for sharing! I used their music and art AIs with great success for new suggestions! :)
Oh, first time seeing this, thanks!
-- it's super old - like - old old internet - it used to be called Global Network Of Dreams (much better name if you ask me) - I discovered it - I think over 15 years ago? - and still use it today --
> The definition of cool is, of course, at your discretion.
OK I'll bite... There's a very cool five letters dot com which exists since forever (I just checked on the Internet Wayback Machine and it has a copy of the site in 1998!). I'll say what it is but I'd rather not link it directly as I wouldn't want HN to kill it (and its owner deciding to pull the plug, you never know you know).
It's basically called "lost.com" (but in another language) and there are just two lines of text saying:
OK I'll bite... There's a very cool five letters dot com which exists since forever (I just checked on the Internet Wayback Machine and it has a copy of the site in 1998!). I'll say what it is but I'd rather not link it directly as I wouldn't want HN to kill it (and its owner deciding to pull the plug, you never know you know).
It's basically called "lost.com" (but in another language) and there are just two lines of text saying:
Lost on the Internet? Don't worry, we're going to help you
* <--- You are here
A bit like http://tired.com/
A site that's bern online since before 1998 will get shutdown like that? Seems unlikely.
Hahah I got it on my first try. Now it’s fun because I feel like I’m in on a little secret. I’ll keep it a secret, too though ;)
[deleted]
Oh, that website! Indeed tres cool.
One man show https://www.dekudeals.com is a labour of love and the best video games deals site that I know of.
Focused on Nintendo Switch, written in rails AFAIK.
Focused on Nintendo Switch, written in rails AFAIK.
I use it for ps4/ps5 too!
Website archiving websites, for eg:
https://archive.is/ https://archive.org/
https://archive.is/ https://archive.org/
Ling's Cars
https://www.lingscars.com/
https://www.lingscars.com/
now THIS is good website design :D
love it, dearly
https://www.spacejam.com/1996/
Hasn’t changed in 26 years.
Hasn’t changed in 26 years.
It did change. The page is https://www.spacejam.com
But they still respected that this site is internet history. They kept the ‘96 site around l, and if you go to the new site…
https://www.spacejam.com/2021/
This is just amazing.
https://www.spacejam.com/2021/
This is just amazing.
new one: https://www.spacejam2.com/ /s
A long time ago, I attempted to reverse-engineer the protocol of a game because I wanted to host a dedicated server on a Linux box, but the developers only provided a (bug-infested) Windows version. That's how I found this treasure trove of game-related PoCs and reverse-engineering knowledge.
https://aluigi.org
https://aluigi.org
I can't believe I've never come across this before.
https://isaacarthur.net/
If you like a science-based approach to futurism this guy is the absolute best. His channel on YouTube is amazing.
If you like a science-based approach to futurism this guy is the absolute best. His channel on YouTube is amazing.
I had a roommate who would binge watch that guy's videos in his room and when he came out I'd make jokes like hey how's Elmer Fudd doing? Roomate didn't like that (honestly I just thought they were more of his goofy ufo vids at the time) but he does have a pretty damn good channel regardless of rhotacism. I also like Anton Petrov on YouTube whose angle is more about recent developments in astrophysics: https://m.youtube.com/user/whatdamath
Also available via podcasts. Great if you’re an insomniac!
HTTPS://acoup.blog
I know it’s on HN a lot but I just love the application of his sphere of deep knowledge (military history) to pop culture.
I know it’s on HN a lot but I just love the application of his sphere of deep knowledge (military history) to pop culture.
Archive.org - the history of the internet, searchable.
https://www.connectedpapers.com/ has unlocked a new level of getting lost in rabbitholes for me
Barely related but equally cool project: https://supp.ai/
Barely related but equally cool project: https://supp.ai/
The Heaven's Gate website is pretty cool https://heavensgate.com/
Would love to know who's been paying to keep that alive all these years.
Jesus. Is amazing that they left 2 people alive that still updates the shit site to this days.
They where also responsable for a lot of local business websites in the 90's. That's how they financed the cult.
They where also responsable for a lot of local business websites in the 90's. That's how they financed the cult.
That just seems really sad.
https://thelifeengine.net/
The coolest cellular automaton I've ever seen. I can fiddle with this all day and get absolutely no work done. Beautiful and stimulating 10/10
The coolest cellular automaton I've ever seen. I can fiddle with this all day and get absolutely no work done. Beautiful and stimulating 10/10
Really cool. Thanks!
I know it's a shameless plug, but if you are searching for cool websites I got you covered: spent 2 years building https://Cloudhiker.net, a StumbleUpon alternative.
This is lovely. It captures the exact feel of Stumbleupon used to for me, with a great selection of websites. I hope this becomes the norm for people and does not get monetized.
I'm bias of course but it's a goal of mine to have the best "misc" website one day... It can do a lot.
https://dustinbrett.com/
https://dustinbrett.com/
It's super cool! I saw it in the other thread yesterday. I can't figure out how to resize the linux terminal, was one of the things I noticed.
Thanks! Ya currently https://copy.sh/v86 afaik can't be resized once booted.
https://href.cool/ naturally :)
The one we're currently in.
Honestly, my Internet life would be miserable without HN. I learn so much stuff in here.
Honestly, my Internet life would be miserable without HN. I learn so much stuff in here.
This has been an endless source of exposure to cool works:
https://gossipsweb.net/
https://gossipsweb.net/
https://www.google.com
Works pretty well, can answer almost any question :-)
Works pretty well, can answer almost any question :-)
Not lately. For me, google has been coming up with stuff that’s not even remotely related to what I asked.
This may help you. https://bit.ly/AllTheOperators
I also recommend checking out Dan Russell's (lead researcher on the Google Search team) blog. https://searchresearch1.blogspot.com/
I also recommend checking out Dan Russell's (lead researcher on the Google Search team) blog. https://searchresearch1.blogspot.com/
I submitted a site as a joke and now I feel bad because there are a lots of interesting sites submitted.
So let me contribute with 2 other sites, maybe not the "coolest" but I think they will be of interest to some fraction of the people here (for those who dont know them)
- http://www.astronautix.com/ A labor of love of just 1 person, almost of 80000 pages! on humanity space programs,you can spend hours and hours reading about obscure soviet prototypes, NASA suits, the Chinese space probes, etc
- https://www.centauri-dreams.org/ A very active (and long) blog about interstellar travel. Despite the fact the subject is now more fiction than science the articles discussed and reviewed are about actual science done by actual scientists (many good guest posts too)
So let me contribute with 2 other sites, maybe not the "coolest" but I think they will be of interest to some fraction of the people here (for those who dont know them)
- http://www.astronautix.com/ A labor of love of just 1 person, almost of 80000 pages! on humanity space programs,you can spend hours and hours reading about obscure soviet prototypes, NASA suits, the Chinese space probes, etc
- https://www.centauri-dreams.org/ A very active (and long) blog about interstellar travel. Despite the fact the subject is now more fiction than science the articles discussed and reviewed are about actual science done by actual scientists (many good guest posts too)
https://www.baseball-reference.com/
One of the most complete sources of baseball stats including game logs. Yes much of the data is from other sources (MLB, Retrosheet.org, etc) but they really ties things together nicely and I can spend hours on the site.
One of the most complete sources of baseball stats including game logs. Yes much of the data is from other sources (MLB, Retrosheet.org, etc) but they really ties things together nicely and I can spend hours on the site.
This website has a list and schedule of active and historical numbers stations, with links to listen in live. If you're fascinated with numbers stations, this is a must: https://priyom.org/
2advanced V5 Attractor
https://youtu.be/pbn9X1MUZdQ
https://www.behance.net/gallery/19738001/2Advanced-V5-Websit...
This was more of a demo page, the original website is long down unfortunately.. Back in the day I'd get excited every time I'd load it! This site is all about esthetic and nothing about the content. I'd say many people decided to become web designers just because of this particular work.
It was hurting my slow DSL back then..
https://youtu.be/pbn9X1MUZdQ
https://www.behance.net/gallery/19738001/2Advanced-V5-Websit...
This was more of a demo page, the original website is long down unfortunately.. Back in the day I'd get excited every time I'd load it! This site is all about esthetic and nothing about the content. I'd say many people decided to become web designers just because of this particular work.
It was hurting my slow DSL back then..
Oh yeah, 2A forever. Found them in 1999-2000 (when I was 12 or 13 and first learning to code and such) and it was positively mind-blowing. v2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHbQmqmmIFk) and v3 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWkNkQoQY_8) made me rethink everything, and I promptly switched focus to learning webdev over coding desktop apps. Those Flash days were fun, between 2A, Balthaser, DerBauer, etc. But yeah, 2A made me completely rethink media and interaction.
Go figure, I work on interactive web stuff and film stuff geared towards the web. I can still hear the first piece of music that would play in the background of 2A v2 in my head 20+ years later, and still occasionally listen to Eric's trance mixes on Soundcloud.
Go figure, I work on interactive web stuff and film stuff geared towards the web. I can still hear the first piece of music that would play in the background of 2A v2 in my head 20+ years later, and still occasionally listen to Eric's trance mixes on Soundcloud.
Linking two… hey give me the same feeling of endless exploration and discovery:
https://radio.garden
http://astronaut.io
https://radio.garden
http://astronaut.io
I don't remember the name, but there was a VERY cool futuristically-looking (like Unreal II UI) flash-based site that contained HQ wallpapers (before HD displays became a thing). I still regret not saving it! :_( Yeah, I love flash and think it was a golden era and possible better future killed by Adobe.
So, how about https://www.99rooms.com/ ? Great art.
I also liked joke sites like getyourasstomars.com or typicalmacintoshuser.com :D
I also liked joke sites like getyourasstomars.com or typicalmacintoshuser.com :D
As a geopgraphy nerd, I appreciate playing around with https://www.thetruesize.com/
http://websdr.org/ You can listen to various amateur radio bands around the world.
Sean Carroll's site https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/ and podcast https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/ where he interviews various people about physics, biology, math, psychology, philosophy etc.
A wild assortment of ~400 mostly visual music videos from youtube that I curate is here:
http://www.ruffandtuffrecordings.com/SELECTIONS
I even use it a lot on my own, I really enjoy the music I find.
I post updates to my twitter account usually as well @djwinterman
The list has many different genres and moods to it.
(Refreshing the list will load random videos)
I'm thinking of making it a carousel page of some sort soon.
http://www.ruffandtuffrecordings.com/SELECTIONS
I even use it a lot on my own, I really enjoy the music I find.
I post updates to my twitter account usually as well @djwinterman
The list has many different genres and moods to it.
(Refreshing the list will load random videos)
I'm thinking of making it a carousel page of some sort soon.
Great ASCII Elements/Animations on Oxide Page.
- https://oxide.computer/
- https://oxide.computer/
https://pudding.cool/
Visual essays with data, that could only exist on the web
Visual essays with data, that could only exist on the web
https://librivox.org/
free public domain audiobooks
https://celody.com
A music network state (if you are into new forms of music).
A music network state (if you are into new forms of music).
https://acko.net
It's a personal website, but is full of amazing visualizations, educational content, and it basically has a demo scene demo to music on the front page, all hand coded in WebGL. It's just cool, in a delightful, personal, artistic way, and I love it.
It's a personal website, but is full of amazing visualizations, educational content, and it basically has a demo scene demo to music on the front page, all hand coded in WebGL. It's just cool, in a delightful, personal, artistic way, and I love it.
There's a collective that does a really great job of presenting and archiving the most artistic web experiences today https://tympanus.net/
I think it's run by a Ukrainian guy, they showed pics of cars on their street being bombed, it was wild
I think it's run by a Ukrainian guy, they showed pics of cars on their street being bombed, it was wild
If posting the Internet Archive is cheating, how about https://libraryofbabel.info/ --technically containing not only everything ever written on the internet as a whole, but also everything that ever will be...
They don't publish a huge volume, but I really enjoy The Markup: https://themarkup.org/
It's the most fun news browsing experience of any news site I use, the content is relevant and interesting, and it's non-profit and ad-free.
It's the most fun news browsing experience of any news site I use, the content is relevant and interesting, and it's non-profit and ad-free.
https://organism.earth/
Thank me later :-)
Thank me later :-)
Love that 2020 reel video. Reminds me of The Avalanches.
Now I'm down a rabbit hole of Racer Trash. This remix of Alien is brilliant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5cQh_APsow
Now I'm down a rabbit hole of Racer Trash. This remix of Alien is brilliant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5cQh_APsow
Seems broken. Used to be able to load up two youtube videos, hit play on both, and cross fade between the two of them.
http://www.twoyoutubevideosandamotherfuckingcrossfader.com/
http://www.twoyoutubevideosandamotherfuckingcrossfader.com/
Alright, so the domain isn't as cool, but this one works
https://www.twoyoutubevideosandamotherflippingcrossfader.com...
https://www.twoyoutubevideosandamotherflippingcrossfader.com...
I would counter with https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/.
I see what you did there
Amazing - that makes https://www.lingscars.com/ look organised
http://MemeScope.com on desktop
https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/#
Shows you satellites that will be visible from your position in the coming hours / days.
Incredibly cool tech stack too.
Shows you satellites that will be visible from your position in the coming hours / days.
Incredibly cool tech stack too.
Anyone remember hell.com from the late 90s. I'm not sure I really understood what it was, some kind of email provider I think, but it has a really mysterious and exclusive feel, it seemed cool.
I just checked it and now it's some religious thing
I just checked it and now it's some religious thing
Might as well link to an open source alternative: https://riju.codes/
Fun fact: Whenever I want to remember the name of this project, I just look for it on the front page of https://hn.algolia.com thanks to one of the most upvoted HN posts of all time, "Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27424195
Fun fact: Whenever I want to remember the name of this project, I just look for it on the front page of https://hn.algolia.com thanks to one of the most upvoted HN posts of all time, "Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27424195
I miss JimCarrey.com which was the only arty flash site I liked. It's gone now but is recorded on video https://youtu.be/B1XZixLBurQ
https://v1.windows93.net is pretty cool. It's an OS packed with cool programs ranging from synthesizers to fangames in your browser!
The design alone of this entire site makes me wanna get into this rather niche political ideology: https://syllabus.pirate.care/
http://symbology.lhohq.info/
i actually found out about this site after finding a very cryptic pamphlet at a bar. the site has hundreds of pages.
i actually found out about this site after finding a very cryptic pamphlet at a bar. the site has hundreds of pages.
1st tier: wikipedia, scihub, libgen, web.archive.org.
2nd tier: google
3nd tier: reddit, hacker news, etc
I'm considering getting an offline copy of wikipedia and libgen. I already have an offline copy of hacker news.
I'm considering getting an offline copy of wikipedia and libgen. I already have an offline copy of hacker news.
The coolest sites are the ones that use the least personal data. Pollhub.xyz is the coolest in that sense. It's the funnest site on the internet. Endless polls and caption contests plus anonymous chat.
Whenever I post one of my sites to hacker news I actually do get an influx of hack attempts.
https://www.norid.no/en/
The official website for registering .no domains. Still the most modern website I have ever seen.
The official website for registering .no domains. Still the most modern website I have ever seen.
Simple viz of wind
http://hint.fm/wind/
Everything by Nicky Case
https://ncase.me/
http://hint.fm/wind/
Everything by Nicky Case
https://ncase.me/
https://www.athinkingape.com/about/
A game company that hired Waterloo co-ops once upon a time.
A game company that hired Waterloo co-ops once upon a time.
https://linkians.com/ I've spend hours playing around with different possible scenarios here.
https://rhizome.org/about/
Covering net art since at least 2001. Maybe not as cool as it was then.
Covering net art since at least 2001. Maybe not as cool as it was then.
A friend made this
http://codepen.io/juliangarnier/pen/idhuG
http://codepen.io/juliangarnier/pen/idhuG
https://www.radio-browser.info/ - Internet radio station directory
https://poolsuite.net/ to capture those nineties feeling for a sec or two...
https://www.masswerk.at/ A personal website with amazing retro projects
You’ll need archive.org for this but 2013.com
“The web is alive”
I believed them, such well written tables and sliced images… colspan your way to the end of the world
I believed them, such well written tables and sliced images… colspan your way to the end of the world
https://falstad.com
Allows you to simulate electronic circuits and also has bunch of other tools.
Allows you to simulate electronic circuits and also has bunch of other tools.
https://www.grand-illusions.com/
Fun and well curated science toy store
Fun and well curated science toy store
http://unmoralische.de
Its in german... and a giant treasure chest full of little humour
Its in german... and a giant treasure chest full of little humour
https://www.gov.uk/
Beautiful, minimalistic, fast, useful.
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Wikipedia is by far the coolest website I know.
https://skinnybob.info (UFO/alien case analysis)
[deleted]
https://my90stv.com
Watch television from the 90s.
Watch television from the 90s.
Humour is cool!
https://xkcd.com/
https://xkcd.com/
shot out to the poor academics cool website "sci-hub.ru"
world of randal and his friends, https://ranfren.neocities.org/
https://sqwok.im (but disclaimer it's probably because I'm working on it!)
It's a new open discussion site where each post is a live chatroom.
It's a new open discussion site where each post is a live chatroom.
simple, unassuming and straight to the point, no question
http://y9k.xyz/
http://y9k.xyz/
The audio did not play automatically.
https://hckrnews.com/
Fast and convenient, everything is one click away. Easy selection of the amount of news you're ready to absorb. Shows where you left off. Default colors are great with already followed links clearly visible. Default order is chronological contrary to https://news.ycombinator.com.
P.S.: no affiliation with it :)
Fast and convenient, everything is one click away. Easy selection of the amount of news you're ready to absorb. Shows where you left off. Default colors are great with already followed links clearly visible. Default order is chronological contrary to https://news.ycombinator.com.
P.S.: no affiliation with it :)
youtube.com with browser extensions for return dislikes and ratings preview.
www.readsomethinginteresting.com, place to find new things to read
HN, of course!
facebook.com
Check out what my folks are up to, check news and read some other random things for entertainment.
yes, Facebook is better than 99% of websites in this thread. Everyone is just bias.
worrydream.com - Bret Victor
ZOMBO.COM
mustafas.de but it‘s flash
noclip.website
used to be:
- lambda-the-ultimate
- c2.com
- lambda-the-ultimate
- c2.com
Archive.org, it's crazy how far back some of their stuff goes (especially on web.archive.org)
reddit