Kagi’s Small Web has taken me on one of the more delightful Internet journeys I’ve had in seemingly decades. They are absolutely on to something here, especially with the interface: it’s a window into the larger Internet that we used to have more easily accessible, and it feeds it to you like a well-mannered, ad-less social media app. Except, as far as I know, the algorithm is pretty random, and there is no personalization of the content curation. This makes it even better.
Here’s the rundown of what it is, how it works, and why it’s a joy to explore.
- An open-source curated list of independent websites (comprised of a considerable amount of blogs)
- Offering this via a web interface and either an iOS/Android app
- Streamlined functionality: renders a random page from its Small Web index on load, with navigation buttons next/back as the driver for exploring
- The discovery engine happens on Kagi’s domain, but hitting any links within a given site will kick you over to its proper domain.
- From the static toolbar that loads at the top, you can also filter by pre-established topics, or view a holistic river
- They keep the discovery fresh with posts only published in the last 7 days
- Lastly, of course, they offer an RSS feed as well
And yes, this is being run by the alternative search engine company, Kagi, which I’ve been experimenting using and, two weeks in, has been fairly good. Great power users features, for sure, including a massive array of shortcut bangs.