Ronalds Vilciņš

Text-only websites

Today’s websites have become bloated and slow. Text-only websites are incredibly useful when networks are slower and bandwidth is at a premium. They load much faster, don’t contain any pop-ups or ads or autoplay videos, and help people with low bandwidth or limited Internet access. Here is a curated collection of text-only/low-bandwidth and performance-focused websites from across the Internet.

  • World Wide Web - The WorldWideWeb (W3) is a wide-area hypermedia information retrieval initiative aiming to give universal access to a large universe of documents.
  • Hacker News - Technology news community centered around link aggregation and discussion.
  • Low Tech Magazine - This is a solar-powered website, which means it sometimes goes offline.
  • Pinboard - Pinboard is a fast, independently run, no-nonsense bookmarking site for people who value privacy and speed.
  • NPR - National Public Radio text-only version.
  • CNN - CNN lite version.
  • Usenet Archives - Usenet Archives collected by Norman Yarvin.
  • Algemeen nieuws - NOS lite.
  • RFC Index - RFC Index.
  • Wiby - Wiby is a search engine for older style pages, lightweight and based on a subject of interest.
  • Goosh - Google command line.
  • CBC Lite - Lite version of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
  • Teddit - A lightweight Reddit.
  • Post Online - A text-only version of Post Online.
  • Lobste.rs - Lobsters is a computing-focused community centered around link aggregation and discussion, launched on July 3rd, 2012.
  • Skimfeed - Technology headlines.
  • Mataroa blog - Naked blogging platform, for minimalists. Just write.
  • Popurls - Mother of news aggregators.
  • Readspike - Simple news aggregator.
  • Alterslash - The unofficial Slashdot digest.
  • is.gd - Free service for shortening web addresses and other URLs.
  • Connected - An internet encyclopedia.
  • Manpages - Practical UNIX manuals.
  • Bear Blog - A privacy-first, no-nonsense, super-fast blogging platform.
  • JimmyR - JimmyR is a mashup of the best sites on the internet integrated into one page.
  • Two Arms and a Head: The Death of a Newly Paraplegic Philosopher - Two Arms and a Head: The Death of a Newly Paraplegic Philosopher.
  • LIES - LIES is a journal spearheaded by a queer feminist collective based in multiple cities.
  • XXIIVV webring - List of hand-crafted wikis and portfolios.
  • San Jose Scrabble(r) Club No. 21 - Three-Letter Word List. Includes all 3-letter words acceptable in U.S. Club and Tournament Play as of 2009.
  • MARC - Mailing list ARChives.
  • Human Universals - Human Universals compiled by Donald E. Brown as published in The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker, 2002, New York: Viking Press.
  • The List - This is a WWW version of Steve Koepke’s excellent (San Francisco) Bay Area concert guide.
  • txti - Txti is fast web pages for everybody. With txti, anyone can use any device to share their story.
  • Berkshire Hathaway - Berkshire Hathaway Inc official home page.
  • Vulfpeck - Vulfpeck official site.
  • wttr.in - Weather.
  • DuckDuckGo Lite - DuckDuckGo Lite.
  • Tilde Town - A community that exists on a linux server.
  • Daywreckers - Interesting link list.
  • Danluu - Danluu blog.
  • Gwern - Gwern Branwen blog about psychology, statistics, and technology.
  • IPCalf - Get your IP address.
  • Odie - Odie makes a webpage with the content of a published google doc.
  • Prof. Dr. Style - Top 10 Web Design Styles of 1993.
  • Ascii - Ascii design.

Feel free to send me suggestions on twitter (@ronaldsvilcins).