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Recapturing early internet whimsy with HTML | MIT Technology Review

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Modern forms of coding make most websites feel like commercial transactions. The HTML Energy movement aims to bring back the joys of the early days. Websites weren’t always slick digital experiences. There was a time when surfing the web involved opening tabs that played music against your will and sifting through walls of Times New Roman text on a colored background. In the 2000s, before Squarespace and social media, websites were manifestations of individuality—built entirely from scratch using HTML, by users who had some knowledge of code and a desire to be on the internet. Scattered across the web are communities of programmers working to revive this seemingly outdated approach. Anchored in the concept of “HTML Energy,” a term coined by artists Laurel Schwulst and Elliott Cost, the movement is anything but a superficial appeal to retro aesthetics. It focuses on the tactile process of coding in HTML, exploring how the language invites self-expression and empowers individuals to clai

Recapturing early internet whimsy with HTML | MIT Technology Review Skip to Content Websites weren’t always slick digital experiences. There was a time when surfing the web involved opening tabs that played music against your will and sifting through walls of Times New Roman text on a colored background. In the 2000s, before Squarespace and social media, websites were manifestations of individuality—built entirely from scratch using HTML, by users who had some knowledge of code and a desire to be on the internet. Scattered across the web are communities of programmers working to revive this se

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