Free Web Content

A brief overview of free web content basics and reviews of some of the best sources for free web content, especially articles.

There's a great deal of content available on the web, that is offered free for republication on other sites. The quality of this free content varies widely, from next-to-useless (e.g. because its junk, or nothing more than an advertorial), through OK, to remarkably good, what's the catch?

There are various reasons why people are willing to give away good content. The simplest is genuine altruism. They don't need or want anything in return (except possibly acknowledgement). Perhaps they developed the content for a government agency, or some other non-commercial body that views the content as a by-product that serves the greater good by being freely disseminated. This was the case with early browsers and servers.

Much of the original 'free stuff' was developed under the wings of organisations such as CERN, NCSA, and NASA - notably web browsers and servers. The web itself (e.g. HTML and HTTP) originated as a project at CERN to disseminate information between heterogeneous systems (multiple platforms) (as it happens, a task I had at NASA when NCSA Mosaic for X appeared). Since tax dollars (as well as tax pounds, francs, marks, etc) had funded the development, there was no need (or desire) to sell it. Indeed, its unlikely the web would have been noticed outside of academia if people couldn't have simply downloaded Mosaic and the NCSA web server for free. Since then, commercial interests have realised the power of 'free stuff'.

Then, there are those freebies that aren't quite free, in the sense that the donor wants something more than a warm fuzzy feeling for their altruism. It might be publicity, branding, free advertising, backlinks, etc. But not money. It's a kind of barter: you provide the traffic, or web site estate, and in return, you get to use their content. This is often a good way to go, so long as there are no hidden gotchas, such as when the content is actually hosted remotely and only appears to be on your site. You have no guarantee that it will always appear the way it does now, and you'll need to check it periodically. Be especially wary of JavaScripts hosted on remote servers (<script src="http://...">). Not only do you not know exactly what you're getting, but they sometimes end up taking forever to load...

Much of the so-called "free stuff" available on the web is offered for free because its hoped that you'll like it enough to pay for an upgrade or some related product, or because it comes with advertising. Even so, it might be a worthwhile deal. There's also a fair amount of genuinely free stuff, with no strings attached - such as Java applets developed by programmers who did it for fun, not money.

Articles

Articles are text above all else, occasionally illustrated with graphics or other media. You will generally want articles that deal with topics relevant to your site, but depending on the theme of your site, it may be hard to find appropriate articles. There's a plethora of web marketing articles ("Seven Simple Secrets for Super Success!"), since they are almost always intended to perform 'viral marketing', i.e. getting themselves copied as often as possible, because they contain marketing to benefit the author. Web Design articles are also common. But you can find articles on many other topics, if you know where to look. Some good sources follow.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is the name of an open content, WikiWiki encyclopedia found at http://www.wikipedia.com/, as well as of its supporting, very active encyclopedia-building project. The main and original wikipedia is in English (American, British, or other, depending on the participant), but there are a number of Wikipedias in other languages as well, the most active of which, as of January 2002, is the German-language Wikipedia, followed by the Polish-Language Wikipedia.

The project is open content. Open content text and media are licensed by the copyright holder to the general public, permitting anyone to redistribute and alter the text free of charge, and guaranteeing that no one be able to restrict access to amended versions of the content. The participants' understanding that their efforts will be freely distributable is one of the main incentives they have to participate.

They list several public domain resources that may be useful, but note that many are very old, context-dependent, and may be written from biased points of view.

EncycloZine

Over the years, I've written or commissioned many articles on a wide range of topics, e.g. arts, history, humanities / science, space, nature, technology, web design / games, puzzles, illusions - over 1,000 pages. I'm now making most of it available for free reprinting. Select one of the ready-made downloads below, or browse around and if you find something you'd like on your site, email me with it's URL, and if it is available I'll create a stripped-down printer-friendly version (i.e. without the ads, menu, etc) that's just the article (or applet, or whatever) and necessary credits. Please do not copy the original source. Note that this is linkware - please make sure to link back!

About Optical Illusions

An overview of the phenomena of optical illusions, illustrated with several examples, and with links to many more. zip file

Free Content for Websites

A brief overview of free web content basics and reviews of some of the best sources for free web content, especially articles.

Encyclogram

Encyclogram is a Java applet that draws harmonograms, spirographs, and Lissajous figures. The decaying motion of the plot fills in the shapes with their spiralling-in echo. Encyclogram can also draw the curves in varying colors against a black background, resulting in breath-taking works of art that can be as beautiful as fractals. zip file

More to be added very soon. Please email me once you have installed any of my content, so that I may keep you informed of updates. I do not use email addresses for other purposes. I'm also pleased to accept good quality free articles on almost any topic (except web marketing) for publication in the EncycloZine group of sites; just email me with your proposal. Please do not send unsolicited articles.

Other Media: Graphics, Java, News, etc.

How To Build a Web Site with Free Stuff

An article I wrote for the Web Developer's Virtual Library in October, 1999 - dated, but still a very useful source for locating free web site content.

Freesticky: An index of free web content and free content providers

A comprehensive index of free content providers and free content solutions for webmasters and ezine publishers including news feeds, weather, games, comics, jokes, riddles, pictures, tickers and more. FreeSticky is a source of FREE and low cost content that anyone can use to increase the appeal, usefulness, traffic and eventually the stickiness of their website. Changing content is the driving force behind return visits to a website.

On this site you will find an index maintained by web professionals who pro-actively locate and review the best free (and low cost) content available for your website. There are also articles on website content, management and creation. If you have a website with content that you want to share, FreeSticky is the place to list it. The content reviewed on this website are NOT links and graphics, they are either data or graphic feeds from a server located off of your site and will enhance the look and feel of your web site. Some content launches in a separate window, but essentially the aim of the content they list and review will keep your website visitors on your site and keep them coming back for more.