Retro Web Aesthetics and the Future of Lexicography
I really like websites that feel alive, w/ tiled compressed GIFs as backgrounds, fun container frames, & slightly chaotic energy humming behind the text. It feels human. It feels handcrafted. It feels like someone cared enough to make it weird.
Yes, I know this kind of thing is probably not ideal for performance, SEO, load times, optimization metrics, and all that other codswallop. Minimalism wins benchmarks. Flat design wins corporate approval. Yadawhodo blah blah.
However our MorDictionary's Neocities site
is not our (meant to be wicked fast) MediaWiki.
The wiki is where clarity, structure, indexing, and searchability matter. That’s our functional dictionary engine.
The Neocities site is something else. It’s got that "something". It’s aesthetic. It's personality. It’s expressive (ya dig).
If anything, lexicography benefits from a little theatricality. Words are not sterile database entries. They carry emotion, history, texture, and absurdity. A retro, animated, slightly maximalist design mirrors that energy.
We oppose boring dictionaries.
So maybe the future of lexicography is dual:
One site for structure.
One site for spirit.
The archive and the carnival.
And the carnival gets hype glowing whatnot.