A personal blog about the long term future of the web. 2026-08-17T00:00:00Z https://longlivetheweb.org/ Philip Jägenstedt 2026-08-17T00:00:00Z https://longlivetheweb.org/paper-doesnt-need-a-battery/

A short note on why static HTML still wins.

<p>A printed book asks nothing of you but light and eyes. A web page, done well, can ask for almost as little.</p> <figure class="figure figure--standard"> <picture><source type="image/avif" srcset="https://longlivetheweb.org/img/LB7MxlD1zp-400w.avif 400w, https://longlivetheweb.org/img/LB7MxlD1zp-800w.avif 800w, https://longlivetheweb.org/img/LB7MxlD1zp-1200w.avif 1200w, https://longlivetheweb.org/img/LB7MxlD1zp-1920w.avif 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 768px) 700px, 100vw" /><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://longlivetheweb.org/img/LB7MxlD1zp-400w.webp 400w, https://longlivetheweb.org/img/LB7MxlD1zp-800w.webp 800w, https://longlivetheweb.org/img/LB7MxlD1zp-1200w.webp 1200w, https://longlivetheweb.org/img/LB7MxlD1zp-1920w.webp 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 768px) 700px, 100vw" /><img alt="A fountain pen nib resting on a handwritten page" loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://longlivetheweb.org/img/LB7MxlD1zp-400w.jpeg" width="1920" height="1408" srcset="https://longlivetheweb.org/img/LB7MxlD1zp-400w.jpeg 400w, https://longlivetheweb.org/img/LB7MxlD1zp-800w.jpeg 800w, https://longlivetheweb.org/img/LB7MxlD1zp-1200w.jpeg 1200w, https://longlivetheweb.org/img/LB7MxlD1zp-1920w.jpeg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 768px) 700px, 100vw" /></picture> <figcaption>The tools change. The habit doesn't.</figcaption> </figure> <p>Most of what a browser renders today would still make sense to someone reading it in fifty years, provided the markup stayed plain. Fonts can be swapped, stylesheets rewritten, but the words themselves don't rot.</p> <figure class="figure figure--float"> <picture><source type="image/avif" srcset="https://longlivetheweb.org/img/L_ub-3aBL9-350w.avif 350w, https://longlivetheweb.org/img/L_ub-3aBL9-700w.avif 700w, https://longlivetheweb.org/img/L_ub-3aBL9-1280w.avif 1280w" sizes="(min-width: 768px) 350px, 100vw" /><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://longlivetheweb.org/img/L_ub-3aBL9-350w.webp 350w, https://longlivetheweb.org/img/L_ub-3aBL9-700w.webp 700w, https://longlivetheweb.org/img/L_ub-3aBL9-1280w.webp 1280w" sizes="(min-width: 768px) 350px, 100vw" /><img alt="A stack of four antique leather-bound books" loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://longlivetheweb.org/img/L_ub-3aBL9-350w.jpeg" width="1280" height="1315" srcset="https://longlivetheweb.org/img/L_ub-3aBL9-350w.jpeg 350w, https://longlivetheweb.org/img/L_ub-3aBL9-700w.jpeg 700w, https://longlivetheweb.org/img/L_ub-3aBL9-1280w.jpeg 1280w" sizes="(min-width: 768px) 350px, 100vw" /></picture> <figcaption>Three editions, one argument.</figcaption> </figure> <p>That's not true of most formats built in the last decade. Proprietary document types, JavaScript-rendered content, apps that phone home to a server that no longer exists — all of it depends on something outside the file itself staying alive. A paragraph of HTML depends on nothing but a browser, and browsers are stubbornly backward compatible.</p> <figure class="figure figure--breakout"> <picture><source type="image/avif" srcset="https://longlivetheweb.org/img/N-KJiMOb0f-500w.avif 500w, https://longlivetheweb.org/img/N-KJiMOb0f-900w.avif 900w, https://longlivetheweb.org/img/N-KJiMOb0f-1331w.avif 1331w" sizes="(min-width: 768px) 900px, 100vw" /><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://longlivetheweb.org/img/N-KJiMOb0f-500w.webp 500w, https://longlivetheweb.org/img/N-KJiMOb0f-900w.webp 900w, https://longlivetheweb.org/img/N-KJiMOb0f-1331w.webp 1331w" sizes="(min-width: 768px) 900px, 100vw" /><img alt="Close-up of antique book spines packed on a library shelf" loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://longlivetheweb.org/img/N-KJiMOb0f-500w.jpeg" width="1331" height="2000" srcset="https://longlivetheweb.org/img/N-KJiMOb0f-500w.jpeg 500w, https://longlivetheweb.org/img/N-KJiMOb0f-900w.jpeg 900w, https://longlivetheweb.org/img/N-KJiMOb0f-1331w.jpeg 1331w" sizes="(min-width: 768px) 900px, 100vw" /></picture> <figcaption>The archive, such as it is.</figcaption> </figure> <p>That's the standard this site tries to hold itself to.</p> 2026-01-05T00:00:00Z https://longlivetheweb.org/hello-world/

The first post — why this blog exists and what it's for.

<p>This is the first post on <em>long live the web</em>. It exists to think, in public, about what makes the web worth keeping.</p> <blockquote class="pullquote">The web is not a platform. It is a promise.</blockquote> <p>Plain HTML has already outlived several platforms that were supposed to replace it.</p>