Netscape News Feed Straight Out of the Late 00s

125 points
1/21/1970
2 days ago
by mistyvales

Comments


GaryBluto

I am both incredibly happy that this exists and disturbed by the possibility that it being posted here will result in it's discovery internally (as I presume it's automated) and shutdown.

IIRC this is just a rebranded version of another service run by the parent company. I remember seeing it recently but don't have a link on hand.

2 days ago

hecanjog

The "download browser" link led to an AOL_Netscape.exe -- I guess it's this Chromium-based web browser mentioned on wikipedia but I don't feel like installing wine :)

> Netscape's browser development continued until December 2007, when AOL announced that the company would stop supporting it by early 2008.[11][12] Until 2025, AOL used the Netscape brand to market a discount Internet service provider, which itself provided a Chromium-based web browser called Netscape, developed by UK security firm SentryBay.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape

2 days ago

angott

101.27 KB to load the full page with images and scripts. Incredibly refreshing, maybe because it brings me back to simpler days in my life. :)

2 days ago

bartread

Small by today’s standards but back in y2k would still have taken about 24 seconds to load over the dial-up connection I had back then.

2 days ago

schiffern

If anyone wants to actually use this, here are some uBlock Origin filters for the ISP-specific elements you probably don't need (remove the carets "^" for uBO Lite, it removes elements directly from the HTML to prevent flickering):

  !Mail button
  isp.netscape.com##^div#mailButton
  !Nav outlinks
  isp.netscape.com##^div#nav > .menuBlk:has-text(Member Center)
  isp.netscape.com##^div#nav > .menuBlk:has-text(Tools)
  isp.netscape.com##^div#nav li:has-text(Autos)
  isp.netscape.com##^div#nav li:has-text(Careers)
  isp.netscape.com##^div#nav li:has-text(Fun & Games)
  isp.netscape.com##^div#nav li:has-text(Home & Living)
  isp.netscape.com##^div#nav li:has-text(Shopping)
  isp.netscape.com##^div#nav li:has-text(Travel)
  !Help links in header
  isp.netscape.com##^div#hdrLnks
  !Bing search
  isp.netscape.com##^div#hdrSrch
  isp.netscape.com##^div#newsSearch input#webSearch
  isp.netscape.com##^div#newsSearch label[for="webSearch"]
  !Footer links
  isp.netscape.com##^ul#ftrLinks
2 days ago

youniverse

As someone who isn't old enough to have experienced this era of internet, the contrast of efficient utility for the user between this and modern news websites is really upsetting. :(

2 days ago

al_borland

There were a lot of landing pages and link sites like this, because search and discovery was still pretty difficult.

One could argue it’s still difficult once you venture outside the big platforms or away from the algorithmic feeds.

2 days ago

HerbManic

This is an instant bookmark! Also do use the side bar to change topics so that it isnt all doom and gloom.

2 days ago

howseer

2 days ago

5555624

Both pages. Netscape and CompuServe, are "© 2026 AOL Media LLC. All rights reserved."

2 days ago

tosti

They share the same TLS certificate.

2 days ago

al_borland

I think I found my new homepage.

2 days ago

zoom6628

That's the one I've been using for a while. Nice to have something so clean in this age of slop.

2 days ago

pndy

That's like taken from mid 2000s when Netscape did a sort of a full circle picking up Firefox and releasing own browser again. They added some own features but that didn't hold up and give them any serious amount of users to keep with this project going.

2 days ago

ChrisArchitect

Some previous discussion:

2021 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26733494

2 days ago

HardwareLust

I wish there was a mobile-friendly version of this.

2 days ago

js2

Be interesting to see if Bending Spoons keeps this alive.

2 days ago

talktalkmake

This makes me happy

2 days ago

dpapathanasiou

Wow, no idea that `netscape.com` was still active!

2 days ago

bluedino

Still have some accounts tied to Netscape email addresses. I think they gave them out free during the Hotmail days. Most of those addresses are for accounts for the couple websites from those days that are still around. eBay, etc.

2 days ago

Imustaskforhelp

I really like it, the gadget and tech section had some pretty interesting news like Yahoo making their new agent Scout

I kind of wish, if we can have more sites like this/with the same UI/UX. Maybe someone can open source something like this. I wonder if someone can also use a source like https://news.kagi.com/ or even hackernews submissions to manually catalogue too.

I have never used netscape/am not technically of that era but this website really just spoke to me in a way :-)

2 days ago

adamiscool8

"Once you've been to [the Netscape ISP Homepage], you'll never stop wanting to beat [front-end Javascript frameworks] to death with your bare hands."

2 days ago

guerrilla

This is fucking glorious. I just wish I could customize it a little like Excite or Yahoo! back in the day.

2 days ago

kstrauser

I used my.yahoo.com so much. It was my browser’s actual home page, on purpose.

2 days ago

andai

Thought this was cute and sent it to my friends before realizing all the text is about Israel, Trump, Iran, airstrikes etc.

Whoops! Not exactly Relaxing Sunday Reading Material... so I deleted the messages.

This page is a lot nicer though:

https://isp.netscape.com/entertainment/

2 days ago

talktalkmake

"Actor James Tolkan of 'Top Gun' and 'Back to the Future' fame dies at 94 Actor James Tolkan, known for his roles as..."

2 days ago