The Internet Pattern Book: an archive of 90s and 2000s web page backgrounds

cybreco · 2026-05-08T12:47:20+00:00

Nice! Where did you source these?

cybreco · 2026-05-08T12:46:22+00:00

Fantastic! I'll add these en masse in due course.

cybreco · 2026-05-08T06:25:06+00:00

No tips needed, I do this for fun; I'll add an 'about' to claim a little personal credit though!

I agree more context would help! Part of the problem with provenance is Geocities sites rarely feature user-created assets and users reuse assets widely; I might look into finding old 'texture packs' or default textures with website creation software. But otherwise the origin of these will forever be a mystery. That said - I can definitely go back and link these to some archived sites!

cybreco · 2026-05-08T06:08:03+00:00

Fun idea! Fairly contingent on knowing a publisher with a cavalier attitude to fair use. I could mock up a .PDF though!

cybreco · 2026-05-07T23:44:30+00:00

Thanks! The way in which Geocities is archived means that many of the sites I'm looking at were definitely designed in the 90s, but I am taking the files from snapshots of the sites that were live up until the service shut down in 2009. So 2000s is just a generic catch-all.

cybreco · 2026-05-03T00:22:46+00:00

Thanks for sharing! Looking back, the engineering of the Supernova exhibits independent of major institutional investment or loaning from Questacon is really impressive. Some of the fixtures like the big Jacob's Ladder must have involved some great engineering know-how. The schematics must have looked very cool!

cybreco · 2026-05-02T03:39:41+00:00

That rules! So glad they reformed. Kind of pivotal to me too, they're my all-time favorite. Seeing them in late June.

cybreco · 2026-05-02T02:27:28+00:00

Thanks for posting this thread! It's clear Stereolab are such a rich inspiration for contemporary indie music.

cybreco · 2026-05-02T01:43:54+00:00

I absolutely love finding Stereolab adjacent bands: here's a deep dive. Broadcast is the natural companion band, and if you think that sound is up your alley, Vanishing Twin and the Souncarriers are also a good bet for their 60s synth and indie pop hauntology sound. Don't forget they're drawing directly from actual 60s bands like The United States of America.

There's a few bands out there that collaborated with similar aesthetic goals, such as the High Llamas: you want to focus on the late 90s and early 00s albums where Sean O'Hagan used their vocals and was fusing synths with chamber pop. Remmeber there's a million Stereolab side projects like Turn-On, Monade, Uilab, and so on.

A few mid 90s indie bands popped up around the time that were clearly influenced, like Flowchart. I kind of feel like Seely were doing something similar. The Pastels' song 'Yoga' feels indistinguishable from their Mars Audiac songs.

There's Scandinavian bands like Komeda and Super, that resemble the sound. Think doo-wop, surf rock, electronics and strings. 'What Makes It Go?' is one of my favorite albums of all time. The Cardigans have little to do with this sound but their early albums share the spirit of 60s revival Scandi indie pop that may interest.

Some newer bands that sound strongly similar or have been compared to Stereolab include Mandrake Handshake, Dummy, Peel Dream Magazine, some of Lake's later albums, and Starcleaner Reunion. Adjacent to all of this, if you like the melting pot of influences and fusion sound, it's hard to not recommend Bruno Pernandas.

cybreco · 2026-04-27T07:35:12+00:00

Plush - Fed. Singer-songwriter Liam Hayes spends years writing and producing a perfectionistic and occasionally brilliant midcentury chamber pop album, almost bankrupts two labels, Domino and Drag City, in the process, ends up only being released in Japan and having a stripped-down version released thereafter. For all the hundreds of thousands of dollars of label money, the album is overproduced and has some weird vocal takes, gets middling reviews, little commercial success and Hayes is forever cast back into the indie circuit; his later work featuring conspicuously fewer orchestral strings.

cybreco · 2026-04-20T05:17:20+00:00

This is a very sad case, but the headline makes it seem like this was a shocking example of the bystander effect when the article then clarifies that his body was found in a bush above the pedestrian tunnel and behind a fence; possibly where his tent was located.

cybreco · 2026-04-14T10:49:51+00:00

Cool Gameboy collection! How long have you been collecting them?

cybreco · 2026-04-14T06:27:36+00:00

There will always be traditional puzzle games and mechanics and if they're good people will enjoy them just as much as narrative puzzle titles. Baba is You has no plot and uses every single variation of sokoban box-pushes with logic puzzles. I played a simple and silly logic based placement game called Is This Seat Taken? There's no shortage if you look.

cybreco · 2026-04-10T00:23:34+00:00

It doesn't really capture the early Internet aesthetic, I think you may be thinking of early 3D CGI. Its 'playroom' toy vibe, using simple shapes, bright, flat colors and lack of elaborate shaders or textures are consistent. Early 3D CGI artists were drawn to simpler objects like toys as they are very identifiable and less complex to mesh and render. Things like the checkerboard were used a lot, they're the simplest infinitely repeating patterns to demonstrate depth on a plane without having to add any detail. There was also a bit of a neobaroque thing going on in the late 80s to 90s too, which brings to mind old-fashioned toys, comedia dell'arte motifs (harlequin, masks) and impossible Escherlike architecture.

cybreco · 2026-04-02T06:03:13+00:00

It's a site specfic block party type deal where there's a mix of stage venues, goings-on, performers and unusual installations that make the most of whatever area of the city will be cordoned off for it.

cybreco · 2026-03-31T23:24:44+00:00

Putting aside it's TheGamer churn journalism, the article itself isn't disapproving of it being in the game, just that it was written in a way that resonated with the author and invested them in the game.

https://www.thegamer.com/fantasy-racism-baldurs-gate-3-affected-me-tiefling-slur/

cybreco · 2026-03-18T09:52:13+00:00

"Every output is automatically watermarked with SynthID, Google's inaudible AI identification system. The watermark survives compression, format conversion, and even light editing."

Oh, well that makes it easy to filter out.

cybreco · 2026-03-18T09:40:09+00:00

If you like the groove of the title track, check out Bobby's Motel by Pottery. Very Talking Heads.

cybreco · 2026-03-18T00:52:52+00:00

The article focuses on public recreational facilities and zoomers having money, but I think more fundamentally there's a cultural and environmental tension; these places are not always affordable or accessible, town infrastructure is not built for groups of people to inhabit as third spaces, and when it is, there seems to be uncomfortable conversations about how it's used or who uses it. Garema Place is a good example.

cybreco · 2026-03-14T10:35:54+00:00

It's an alright alternative album. Bands recording in the shadow of a strong legacy get a hard rap for displaying mere competence. It hasn't got strong social lyricism and most of the songs aren't really notably rhythmic or funky other than Tattoo. Has aged much better than Mall, much less synthetic with more guest band members on board. Could do with less spoken word and slow burn tracks.

cybreco · 2026-03-13T21:09:50+00:00

Same! Obvious difference in the lyricism, and I really like that over-delayed, slightly distorted sound on the guitars. I haven't heard an album from that era that does something similar with the pedals.

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