Reclaiming the Internet for Humans

Tired of the commercial dead internet? We are too.

Welcome to The Handcrafted Web—a curated, decentralized webring and directory for websites made by real people, fueled by genuine curiosity, and committed to transparency. We are a growing collective dedicated to finding, linking, and celebrating the personal, thoughtful, and human-written content that is increasingly drowned out by corporate SEO spam, clickbait, and AI-generated content which ruins the internet. This is what the internet ought to have been.

✋ The Human Pact - Our Three Promises

Every site listed here is run by a human being who agrees to three simple, non-negotiable commitments:

1. Content is Human-Written

We believe original thought matters. Members commit that the core voice, perspective, and majority of the content on their site is written and created by a human. While AI tools may be used for simple editing or brainstorming, the spirit of the work must be genuinely human.

2. Design is Simple and Fast

We value substance over spectacle. Our members prioritize fast-loading, accessible, and simple designs—no bloated sites containing megabytes of javascript , no overwhelming animations, and no unnecessary data hoarding. The focus is on the content, not the container.

3. Privacy and Ethics First

We believe the web should be ethical. Our members avoid unnecessary tracking, black hat SEO, obtrusive ads, data tracking and selling, and manipulative tactics. We aim for transparency and respect your privacy.

🔗 Discover the Human Web - Simple, Random, Real

Forget endless doom-scrolling. The Handcrafted Web offers three simple ways to discover valuable content:

🎯 1. Take a Random Jump

Click the button below to be instantly transported to a truly random, human-made corner of the internet. You never know what you'll find—a personal blog, an obscure hobby, a hand-coded portfolio, or a new creative voice.

Discover a Random Human Site →

🔎 2. Search the Human Index

Use our exclusive search engine, which only indexes the quality, human-crafted websites listed here. Search the Human Handcrafted Web, skip the noise. (Not implemented yet!) If you like this idea, let us know on Our PrivacyZen Community

📋 3. Browse the Full Directory

See the entire list of Handcrafted Websites, sortable by category (e.g., Code, Art, Food, Philosophy, Life) and find your next favorite read.

Browse Full List

🛠️ Join The Handcrafted Web

Joining the HandCraftedWeb is easy, yet requires a small, deliberate effort.

Create the /human(.html) page on your website ex `yoursite.com/human`.
Add the Pact: On that page, write a few sentences explaining why your site is part of the Handcrafted Web by adapting the following statements:
- "This site is part of The Handcrafted Web, and is hosted by a human being."
- "The core content on this site is written/created by a human, not by AI."
You must also link back to this page: HandCraftedWeb
```
<a href="https://handcraftedweb.eu">HandCraftedWeb</a>
```
Submit for Review. Fill out the simple form below. We manually review every submission to ensure it meets the Human standards.

📝 Submission Form

Webring

Discovering other sites in the past was done via browsing form one site to another. Serendipity was a huge factor of discovery. A big part of that was that sites connected to eachother using something called a WebRing. I'm not reinventing webrings from scratch, just providing you with a basic simple webring you can copy and adapt for your own usage. It features a button which will redirect you to this website and a random button. You can use either image. Edit the sites of your "friends" in the webring and each click will randomly redirect to one of those websites. Works for non javascript versions aswell by simply redirecting you to the /random page which will redirect to a randomly approved site.

Example of HTML code to implement a webring, copy paste and adapt to your website.


   <footer>
        <h4>Part of The Handcrafted Web Discover random cool websites .</h4>
        <a href="https://handcraftedweb.eu/" target="_blank"><img src="https://handcraftedweb.eu/static/img/handcraftedweb-mini.webp" /></a>
        <a href="https://handcraftedweb.eu/random" target="_blank" id="webringRandomButton"><img src="https://handcraftedweb.eu/static/img/handcraftedweb-random-mini.webp" /></a>

    </footer>

    <script>
   		 const WEBRING_SITES = [
			 "https://yoursite.example.com",
		"https://zendenpen.com",
		"https://privacyzen.eu",
		"https://community.privacyzen.eu",

		 ];
    </script>
    <script src="https://handcraftedweb.eu/static/js/handcraftedweb-webring.js"></script>

Have an issue? Questions? Want to chat

Let's chat on the PrivacyZen IRC!. You can also send an email to hello[at]privacyzen.eu