The purpose of the Manifesto is to establish OpenBooks’ reason for existence, its purpose, goals, and a call-to-action for the citizens of the internet to take back the web, using technology that is freely accessible, and free of capitalistic oversight.
- OpenBooks exists to serve the community of personal websites, by providing: services such as the OpenBooks WebRing, Search engine, and by our own site being 100% free to copy for people to use as a basis to build their own.
- OpenBooks provides an example of a modern and accessible personal site, viewable in any browser or device without compromise, build as a completely static site, by hand with no generators or CMS.
- Personal web and nostalgia are not the same thing. Building a website is not nostalgia, it is the future. We are not reliving the old web, we are creating a new one, and taking back the web from corporations trying to sell us social networks.
- We build using free and freely accessible technologies. There is no blockchain or crypto here. There is no payment required. Sites should be designed for any user to have access, and on any device.
We are not reliving the past. We are not clinging to Web 1.0 and are not luddites eschewing modern technology. We invent our own, and create a new web controlled by the people who make it, not governed by social networks. We are taking back the web.
- Coyote Reyne, founder of OpenBooks