The First Website
The original page describing the World Wide Web project, restored by CERN at its first address. Plain text and a few links.
Opens in a new tab. We do not control this site and it may have changed since we catalogued it.
How to get the most from it
The First Website sits in Old Net Art under Retro, filed as instant.
- Just open it. It pays off within seconds, with nothing to read first.
- It works on a phone or a desktop, so open it on whatever is nearest.
- It works with the sound off, so it is fine on a train or in a quiet office.
- No account needed — you can start without signing up.
- Go in expecting something nostalgic and brainy.
About this category: Personal pages, hand-written HTML, Winamp skins and net art from an era when nobody had decided what a website was supposed to look like.
Good for
- A five-second distraction
- A trip back to the older internet
- Giving your brain a workout
- A quiet break at your desk
- Killing time on your phone
- Trying it with zero commitment
The First Website: quick answers
Is The First Website free?
Yes. The First Website is free to use and needs no account.
Do I need an account to use The First Website?
No. You can use The First Website without signing up for anything.
Does The First Website work on a phone?
Yes. The First Website works on phones as well as desktop browsers.
Is The First Website safe for work?
Yes, we file it as safe for work. It also works muted.
How long does The First Website take?
We file it as "Instant": Good within five seconds of loading.
More in Old Net Art
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- <1 min
- Sound on
Winamp itself, reimplemented faithfully enough that the equaliser works. It really whips the llama's behind, in a browser tab.
- <1 min
- Sound on
- Desktop
Roughly a hundred thousand Winamp skins, all loadable in the browser. An enormous accidental record of amateur graphic design.
- 1 hr+
- Desktop
Eight hours on the networks that existed before the internet reached homes, released free by the person who made it.
- 1 hr+
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Same mood: nostalgic
All nostalgic sitesComplete texts, timelines and scholarship for a writer whose entire output is public domain, on a site that has barely changed since 1994.
- 1 hr+
Aggregates everything the music blogs posted today into one stream, which is how people found new records before playlists took over.
- 10 min
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Every interactive fiction file anyone thought worth keeping since 1992, in a directory listing that has never once been redesigned.
- 1 hr+
- Desktop
Coin-operated arcade cabinets from the seventies onward, emulated in a tab, attract mode and all.
- 10 min
- Sound on
- Desktop
Keep exploring
Category
Have a site of your own? Suggest it for Detour or browse the AltFTool backlinks hub.