A New Way to Explore the Hidden Web

As search engines become increasingly dominated by AI summaries and commercial content, people are looking for ways to make the web feel more human like it used to be. One of the newer efforts in this direction is Wander Console, an open-source, self-hosted web console that gives website visitors a way to explore other interesting sites and webpages recommended by a community of indie website owners.

Wander's Roots in Older Ideas

Wander has its roots in older ideas, like the webrings that once connected independent websites and blogs, or website discovery tools like StumbleUpon, which offered serendipitous recommendations as you clicked its "Stumble!" button to discover new websites. It also has elements of blogrolls, as site owners can recommend other websites.

"Not everybody is aware of this beautiful portion of the internet, which is quirky, where we have all kinds of strange websites, where people are expressing their personality, and so on," says Susam Pal, the London-based developer of the project.

How Wander Works

To use Wander, you simply upload two files to your website: an index.html file that points to the Wander console, and a wander.js (a plain JavaScript file) that you use to link to other Wander consoles you're recommending. There's no server-side code or database, and the console can even be hosted on GitHub Pages or Codeberg Pages, Pal said.

• Upload the index.html and wander.js files to your website
• Add a "Wander" link to your website that allows visitors to jump into the discovery experience
• Click the "Wander" button at the top of the page to load a random website or see information about that person's Wander setup

The Power of Community

Wander has been adopted by over 60 people who are now using it to recommend a total of over 1,500 websites. Pal said it's easy to customize the console using CSS or JavaScript without changing the original Wander Console, allowing users to make the experience their own.

• Customize the console using CSS or JavaScript
• Use AI tools to help with customization if needed
• Keep the experience fresh with new releases from Wander

Conclusion

Wander is a unique tool that's bringing back the element of surprise and discovery that's missing from the web. By empowering users to recommend their favorite websites and web projects, Wander is making the web feel more human again, and that's something to love.