iRabbit is a place to reminisce about the golden age of the internet, when websites were designed in Photoshop and Apple still sold iPods.

I’ve been a graphic designer since the early 2000s. While the internet had already gained mainstream attention in the 90s, by the early 2000s it had reached what I believe was a golden age.

Web design felt like a craft of art and skill. Websites were unique and handcrafted. A company’s website was a workhorse for building awareness and communicating with customers. Today, websites have become cookie-cutter and forgotten wastelands, as most brand attention has shifted to social media, apps, and megastore marketplaces.

I designed and built iRabbit similar to how I worked in the early 2000s: the entire site layout was created in Photoshop, then sliced into pieces and exported as separate images. The images are reassembled in HTML as one giant table. The site is not responsive to device size (i.e., mobile).

Of course, I had to incorporate some of the conventions and aesthetics of the pre-2010 internet, such as 3D buttons, inset text shadows, drop shadows, gradients, and tab navigation.

In addition to classical web design, the early 2000s were also a peak time for blogging, social media, and tech in general. MySpace and Facebook were unadulterated. Blogging was more raw and casual than it is now. There were no paywalls and fewer bland layouts.

Our digital lifestyles back then meant connecting MP3 players, wired headphones, printers, and digital cameras to computers. It meant burning music playlists onto CDs. We owned our music and movie libraries. There were no music subscriptions. My first modern subscription was probably Netflix, when it was still DVD rentals by mail. Things were digital yet still tangible. There were more screens, more interaction, and more fun.

In 2026, I’m tired of only thinking about how I used to enjoy design, media, and technology back then, so I’m doing something about it with iRabbit.

I’m designing the way I used to. I’m writing about the way Apple products and other devices used to be. I’m sharing about the golden age to keep perspective. To look back and see how far we’ve come. Maybe things have gone too far. Maybe we should turn back a few pages, remember what was, and sprinkle some of that goodness on top of what’s new today.

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