Before social media took over, Geocities and Angelfire were where the internet’s real creativity happened. These free web hosting platforms let people build anything they wanted—from personal diaries to deep-dive fan shrines to completely bizarre conspiracy hubs. It was the raw, unfiltered internet, and it was glorious.
These sites weren’t polished, but that was the charm. Backgrounds were painfully bright, GIFs were everywhere, and you’d often be greeted with a “WELCOME TO MY WEBSITE!!!” in giant, flashing Comic Sans. And honestly? That was way more interesting than the sanitized, templated internet we have today.
Geocities shut down in 2009, and Angelfire still exists but is barely recognizable. Yet, in many ways, the Small Web movement is bringing back what these sites stood for—a web that is personal, creative, and fully owned by its users.
👉 Did you ever make a Geocities or Angelfire site? If you could bring back one thing from that era, what would it be? Is there anything stopping you from creating a personal website simply for the fun of it? Let us know!
