2024-04-08 unmodernweb.com by Katrina Grace ¶
What does “unmodern” mean? ¶
- unmodern
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unmodern (n.) not modern, old-fashioned
The idea behind the Unmodern Web is to create and use modern tools alongside the philosophy and mindset of the early web. Rather than follow the current modern philosphies of web design, such as heavy JavaScript frameworks and single-page applications, unmodern websites strive for simplicity and straightforwardness by working alongside the way the web was originally designed.
This is not, however, to say that unmodern websites avoid modern features. In fact, quite the contrary — unmodern sites are encouraged to employ cutting-edge CSS and JavaScript where it has sufficient browser support.
What matters is the underlying design philosophy, which stresses straightforward implementations built on basic browser technologies and the use of libraries that extend those technologies rather than override them.
I started Unmodern Web as an outlet for my thoughts about web technology and how best to do web development, but it very quickly evolved into something of a broader philosophy that I’d like to encourage in the web development community, heavily inspired by things like HATEOS and The Grug Brained Developer.
The name was somewhat of a random flash of insight — I personally feel that the unusual wording quite neatly captures the idea of “modern technology with old-fashioned principles”.
Thus, this site serves both as a landing page for my own personal blog and projects, as well as a way to promote other projects I feel embody the principle of the Unmodern Web.