Hello there! Welcome to my tiny corner on the cyberworld. I'll use this place simply as a means of expression — be it my thoughts, my web design experiments, or simply my sheer, profound love for the yesterweb.
The Internet has undergone deep changes since its first iteration, back in the first 90s. It started as a vast, untamed land where everyone could have a voice — regardless of location, age, or socioeconomic status. It was, thus, ruled by the purest form of democracy. And it was not only a promised utopia, but also a profoundly exciting jungle to explore, as possibilities seemed endless — you could well end up on a German dad's philosophical musings, or maybe on a Californian schoolgirl's Green Day fansite.
On the other hand, personalization in the broadest sense was the norm. People back then were not graphic design luminaries, we can all agree on that, but personal websites had a soul. They were used as a fun tool of self-expression, as another way of vehiculating one's unique personality, tastes and interests. There wasn't a single model to adapt to, quite the opposite! As long as you had some HTML and (later) CSS skills, you were good to go. This, of course, meant a quite high number of websites were a total nightmare for graphic designers all over the world, but that's just what comes with artistic freedom!
It's clear that all this wilderness was allowed by the lack of megacorporations ruling it all. Big companies used the Internet for profit, of course, but they hadn't permeated each and every single step of the cyberworld.
Flashforward to today, and the situation is quite different. The concept of the personal, non-commercial web is left to a few idealistic underdogs, and the only mainstream way to have something akin to a diary is on the hands of just a few corporations —Meta, Twitter—. This carries heaps of worrying implications, the most important of them —for me— being that we are now the product.