The History of the Web

Timeline
Archives
Sidenotes

The man who drove from coast to coast

Published: January 19, 2021

When the web was still knew, one man decided to get on his motorcycle and do something about it.

Sidenotes

Excerpt from Chapter 5: Webzines Find Their Voice

Published: December 15, 2020

What follows is an excerpt from the latest chapter an ongoing series I’ve been writing for the last few months […]

Sidenotes

Fandom, Folksonomies, and Tagging Things Right

Published: August 18, 2020

The fan fiction community is tough. Resilient. Fandom — a catch-all term that includes fan fiction writers, readers, and participants […]

Sidenotes

I have some news

Published: August 5, 2020

Starting today, I will have an ongoing series at CSS-Tricks that we’re just calling Web History. It’s a chapter by […]

Sidenotes

July 2020 Weblog: It Can Be Our Web

Published: July 29, 2020

This month, finding your own space on the web, exploring the magic and quirks and possibilities of CSS, and (re)discovering community.

Features

What Happened to the Webmaster

Published: June 16, 2020

The webmaster was once a coveted and important role on the web. One day, it disappeared. This is what happened.

Sidenotes

Pandora Didn’t Pay Its Employees for Two Years, or How I do Research

Published: May 19, 2020

When I look at a story, sometimes I have to look past the history that has already been written to find the truth that was hiding behind it. This is one of those times.

Sidenotes

April 2020 Weblog: Learning to Be on a New Web

Published: April 29, 2020

Our latest crisis has produced a different kind of web, and for many of us, a different attitude towards our online lives.

Sidenotes

I Read the Web’s Greatest Soap Opera So You Don’t Have To

Published: March 30, 2020

The Spot was a webisodic soap opera that was as well-crafted as it was packed with drama. It boomed on the web for several years, and then faded away with virtually no trace. Until now.

Sidenotes

March 2020 Weblog: Trying to Think about Something Else

Published: March 27, 2020

March has been a weird month, but the web trudges onward.

Sidenotes

February 2020 Weblog: We blog, you blog

Published: February 26, 2020

This month is all about blog posts, from pesonal experiences with the web to the long-term effects of social media.

Sidenotes

January 2020 Weblog: It’s a New Year, Let’s Try New Things

Published: January 29, 2020

Quick personal note. Now seems like as good a time as any to try out a few new things on […]

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The History of the Web is a project by Jay Hoffmann.

Illustrations courtesy of Katerina Limpitsouni at unDraw.