The Pixel Toybox Era




My Toybox


































credit disclaimer: whenever possible, original creators are given credit for their work, but there are a few pixels that I couldn't trace to original sources. I really want to ensure correct attribution, so I would sincerely appreciate it if you could please reach out via the guestbook if you know one of the original artists that I'm missing. ♡
My Pixel Art & Sozai
Here's a couple of pieces of pixel art that I made for you to adopt and sprinkle throughout your site:








Terms of Use
- These graphics are closed-source freeware for personal and non-commercial use only.
- Download and host these yourself. Do not hotlink.
- Credit me with a visible link back to Lost Letters.
- DO NOT use for commercial purposes nor NFTs.
- DO NOT edit, copy, or use in your art works, products, or services.
Surviving Pixel Websites From That Era
While you can experience quite a bit of this era of mostly static sites just by browsing the Internet Archive, there are still a handful of these sites that are live, allowing you to fully immerse yourself in it. I vividly and fondly recall visiting these sites as a kid and marveling at these folks' incredible artistic talent. I still am in awe nearly 20 years later. Please check these sites out:About This Page

For this jam, I wanted to experiment with flexbox for the first time. I couldn't have done it without the help of this guide to flexbox by Chris Coyier of CSS Tricks. Flexbox was introduced in July of 2009, but I never saw folks in the personal web / toybox era use it, so it's a bit anachronistic to use; however, the point of this page is partially to show the through lines, connecting a bygone time to the nostalic revival efforts going on right now, mixing old and new. Even more meta, this whole site is a mix of that as well, so perhaps it actually is fitting afterall.
If you're still here, I hope you're inspired to make your own toybox page or add to it with pixels from any of the sites linked above as well as to join a pixel club or two.



