r/WebsitesThatFeelLike
cool websites based on moodboards i made (plus a website by me!)
I recently came across the subreddit r/MoviesThatFeelLike and have since become absolutely obsessed with it. In r/MoviesThatFeelLike, people upload moodboards and others reply with movies that match that vibe. As someone who loves collaging, moodboards and curating aesthetics1, I think this is SUCH a brilliant idea. There are so many times I want to watch a movie with a specific texture / palette / mood, but have a hard time putting it into words. Getting movie recs from a moodboard is genuinely useful for my brain.
And so I thought, why not do the same thing with my specialty: websites. Using my much-abused Canva subscription, I built out some moodboards I thought were interesting and trendy. Then, I paired them with the websites I’d suggest to someone into that aesthetic. Alright, come take a scroll with me.
[ Reminder: these websites are best experienced on desktop. ]
[ Also, one of my own websites is at the end! ]
Nostalgia’s rose-colored screen. Flash games at the school library. The feeling of falling in love with the internet for the first time. I don’t know, 2008?
Channel Surfer - Okay, this might genuinely be my favorite website on the planet right now. Plain and simple, Channel Surfer is cable TV for YouTube made to look like those nostalgic DirecTV channel surfing guides. The creator of the site has curated a ton of different channels to scroll through, each with their own scheduled videos. No longer do you have to worry about infinite choice! We’ve 360’d back to cable! And, my favorite part, you can import your own subscriber list to watch your own subscriptions as channels. I’M OBSESSSSSED. I barely go on YouTube anymore. So please. Enjoy.
Antonymph - This is not a website. Well, it is. But it isn’t. This is genuine art. This is creativity!! This is what the internet is for!!! And also there are quite a few My Little Ponies in it. I don’t want to spoil much, so I’ll leave it at that, but this is definitely a reminder that code!! is!! art!! (Also, view this on desktop)
Cloudgazing - This is the CUTEST idea for a site I have ever seen. You’re given a picture of a cloud and have to draw what you see. Is that a dog with a man-bun? A depressed anglerfish? It’s digital cloud gazing! You can also scroll through a gallery of other people’s work to see what they saw in theirs. Adorable, human, and guaranteed to lift your spirits.
Pudgy Penguins - No one could ever recreate Club Penguin. It was a product of its time. However, if you’re craving something similar, this site might just be for you. It’s a small, cute world similar to the nostalgic game where you live as a penguin, customize your avatar, walk around, fish, and play mini-games. A charming little site to lose ten minutes in.
[ This is Editing Brooklyn. I did some more digging into this site and found out Pudgy Penguins is actually an NFT/crypto company that believes in spreading “good vibes, meme culture, and play.” Lol. No real thoughts on that, just interesting and a little random. Site still holds up as a cute social game.]
iPod Playlists (Facebook Page) - This is one of those ideas I’m mad I didn’t think of. This is a Facebook page run by Claire Hughes where she takes old iPods and creates playlists from the songs found on them. I think this is such a genius idea and I had so much fun seeing all the musical time capsules she’s made. Also, I love this for finding new songs! I’m definitely going to keep checking in on it.
Project Hail Mary. Artemis II. Why was April so space themed?
If The Moon Were Only One Pixel - This website is a visual representation of our solar system where the moon is the size of one pixel. From that, you can see how far away and how large planets actually are compared to each other. It’s a long scroll, but it’s a cinematic piece of art that reminds me how empty space actually is.
Exoplanets - This is NASA’s site on exoplanets2 with some genuinely fascinating things tucked away in there. There are apparently over 6000 exoplanets confirmed by NASA—though they believe there to be over one billion of them—and they’ve made a fully rendered 3D universe where you can actually visit each and every one of them. Not only is this just an amazing resource for learning about space, but I feel like sci-fi writers could use this for inspiration. I’ve been randomly clicking through the 3D universe to see where I end up. The planets are gorgeous and it has been quite addictive.
Space Dashboard - This site really scratches the itch for anyone who wants to be an astronaut but also fears death and would absolutely say no if given the opportunity. It’s a small dashboard with a couple of space-themed livestreams and some data about upcoming space events, launches, etc. The author of the site says his goal was to create a hub with as much space-related data as possible, and I feel like he accomplished that. Honestly so well done. I feel like I’m working at NASA.
The Cosmic Stage - This website is a love letter to Carl Sagan, an American astronomer and planetary scientist. It’s another interactive solar system, but made by a music composer and motion graphics artist. The art and music are by the creator himself. He says he wanted to create something “that might help someone, somewhere, feel the enormity and beauty of the Cosmos the way Sagan helped me feel it for the first time.” Just lovely3.
The National UFO Reporting Center - Put your tin foil hats on for this one! Actually, in this day and age, I don’t think it’s very tinfoil-hatty to believe in aliens anymore. Well in that case, this website is an extremely large database of UFO sightings reported by the public. You can filter by shape, date, state, etc. I’m personally a skeptic4, but I do love a good database and an even better conspiracy.
The smell of rain and leather. Marginalia. A Donna Tartt unread on the nightstand. Morally gray characters in glasses because they are smart and you can tell because they have glasses.
Nounsense - This game reminds me of the Wordle days when, similar to Taylor Swift5, there was a new variant coming out every day with slight gameplay changes. In Nounsense, you are shown a list of words and must guess the most common noun that follows each word. “Murky” → Waters type beat. I am quite bad at it! But it’s still so entertaining.
In Every Language - I don’t know if I’d consider this dark academia per se; I mostly just wanted to put this website in a post because I think it is the coolest, so it’s close enough. In Every Language is another Wikipedia-based website, but this one shows how the same Wikipedia article will show a totally different cover photo based on the language it’s in. Just type in a phrase and you can see about 300 images. I find this so disproportionately fascinating. For example, I looked up Harry Styles and Kazakh knows what’s up.
OncePosted - This site is a big collection of scanned postcards. All of them are gorgeous, and a lot of them have messages written on the back, though admittedly they are all quite hard to read. Seriously, do only doctors write postcards?! Badum tss. Anyway, it’s a tender project — nice to scroll through when you’re feeling sentimental.
If Only I Sent This - This is a wistful little website meant for secrets and unsaid things. Choose a notecard and write the words you never got to say to someone. Write confessions you wouldn’t dare admit to today. Write whatever you want. It’s sappy in the way I usually roll my eyes at, and I love it anyway.
LonelyWiki - There’s a saying I’m sure most of y'all know that goes: “You die twice. Once when you stop breathing and the second when somebody mentions your name for the last time.” This website pulls on those same heartstrings. LonelyWiki chooses one Wikipedia article to display every day that received under 2000 views last year. So, if you want to flex your niche, uncommon knowledge, this is the place for you. I love the site’s about:
Today you can prompt an AI and get a thousand words in seconds. These articles weren't written that way. A person sat down, knew something, and decided it was worth writing about. No algorithm suggested it. No one commissioned it. They just thought the world should know about a moth, a medieval bishop, a river nobody has heard of, and they wrote it down. That is worth at least one reader. Today, that's you.
…
Like okay?? Got me feeling maternal over some hyperlinks.
Romantic knightcore. Sword and flower. Lace and lilypads. 2026 modern medieval movement???
Anna’s Secret Garden - Y’all are going to love this site. Anna’s Secret Garden is a simple yet gorgeous place where you can draw little flowers and have them appear on a floating garden. It's small and soft and slightly enchanting. There’s also a section to view all of the flowers created on the site. A community garden! See if you can spot mine!
Celestune - Have you ever asked Spotify a question? I’m serious. Have you ever asked it a question and then shuffled your playlist to find out the answer? Like asking the stars, but you’re asking the bars (that was so cringe, sorry). Well, I have. All the time actually. So this site is quite literally Amazing to me. You ask a crystal ball a question and get a random song back for your answer. I love the zine look it has. I love the idea. I love this site!!!!
An Abundance of Beasts - An Abundance of Beasts is an “endless medieval bestiary generator”. It pairs a medieval painting of an animal with a description of another animal. Most of the information comes from Medieval Bestiary: Animals In The Middle Ages. As a lover of medieval art and history, I’m a big fan of this one. Mostly I just sit and stare at the images.
The Dollhouse - This website is gorgeous and creepy and girly and haunting and. Well, just look for yourself, but basically this site is a digital art show. A space for a handful of artists, each with their own room in this digital dollhouse. You must explore the rooms and the art inside to find collectibles. Once you find all of the collectibles, you can visit the “Chatroom” which is exactly what it sounds like. It's a real love letter to digital art and I absolutely love the look of it. A truly digital zine.
Titivillus Teachings Typning - I LOVE THIS SITE. I love all sorts of games, but one category I love to collect is typing games. They’re such a fun way to pass time while pretending to work on something. They remind me of sitting in computer class. I miss computer class. When it’s late at night and I just want to watch YouTube and do something with my hands, typing games are the way to go. This one is medieval-themed and STUNNING. I could spend hours here.
pondbooth - This one is from me! I’ve been wanting to work with hand tracking, so that was the focus for this project. Pondbooth is a photobooth inspired by one of my favorite hyperfixations that shows up in literally every project I do: ponds. You can dress yourself in fairy wings. Tap the glass to make water ripples. Hold fairy-inspired items in your hand. And get a cute downloadable souvenir at the end. I packed it with little details, so you keep finding new things the longer you stay. This is my little love letter to the magic of ponds. Hope you take a scroll!
If you got this far, thank you for reading. I had so much fun making this list, and I really do think these are some of the most worth-your-time corners of the internet right now. If you give any of them a try, let me know what you found. Also, I genuinely loved this format, so definitely expect more soon.
<3 brooklyn
oo and i just created an Instagram and TikTok so follow me there if you want to see more!
no i seriously consider it a hobby of mine
planets outside our solar system
sometimes i like to pretend im in the great british bake off when reviewing websites
i know that mathematically aliens probably exist but i am scared of them blowing up our planet and so i refuse to believe and thats my RIGHT LEAVE ME ALONE
and now olivia!!! noOOO GIRL NOOOO
you are a gift to this world omg. thank you so much for sharing these and im definitely gonna be checking out your website first!!
This is awesome!!!