Wikipedia in its first years is the look of a page that trusts its content so completely it refuses to decorate it. Launched in January 2001 on borrowed wiki software, it rendered as near-raw HTML: a white article column, thin gray chrome, black serif body in the browser's default Times, and unmistakable underlined blue links threaded through every sentence. There is no drop shadow, gradient, or rounded corner anywhere. Broken "redlinks" glow dull maroon, an open invitation to write the missing article. The design IS the information architecture — cool, gray, footnoted, endlessly cross-referenced. The aesthetic says: anyone can edit this, so nothing here is allowed to look precious.