Tuesday March 12, 2019; 12:34 PM EDT
I like the way they implemented TBL's first web browser written in JS presumably and running in a modern browser like Safari or Chrome. #- To go to a specific page, choose Open from full document reference in the Document menu and enter the URL. #
- I tried loading the home page of my blog in the app. It looks pretty good, but clicking links doesn't work at least in Chrome and Safari (the two browsers I tried).#
- I also tried a very early site that hasn't been rebuilt since 1995. It's spectacularly readable. What a thrill! 💥 #
- These sites, and the others I've tried, can all be read, which is testimony to the power of an unowned standard. As I've said elsewhere, if a big tech company owned the web, they would have deprecated its earlier forms long ago. Because no one owns it, forward compatibility is automatic. Of course that is very much at risk given Google's recent moves to annex the web. #
- It would also be interesting to have early versions of Mozilla and Netscape browsers to try out in this mode too. Not to shame existing sites, because why should they be concerned about working in ancient browsers. Rather to experience early websites as they were designed to be viewed, given the limits of browsers of the times. This would help historians and researchers, now and in the future. #
- Update: Ted Howard recommends oldweb.today. #
