A single-serving site (SSS) is a website composed of a single page with a dedicated domain name and serves only one purpose. The term was originally coined by Jason Kottke in February 2008, although single-serving sites have existed since the dawn of the internet.
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Origins
The origins of single-serving sites trace back to the creation of the World Wide Web. The oldest known single serving site is Purple.com, which was launched in 1994. This website contains no links and its only content is a purple-colored background. In August 1995, wwwdotcom.com was launched, the first of several sites dubbed as "The Last Page of the Internet." Mike Kuniavsky launched Tired.com in November 1997. This site asks the viewer if he/she is tired and if so, why. In 1999, Zombo.com was launched, featuring a page with seven rotating colour wheels. Many people view this site as a parody to several other single serving sites created in the late 1990s. Most of the sites from the 1990s that still exist in their original form are single-serving sites.
Spread
One of the best known single-serving sites is YTMND, created in 2001. In 2007, several single-color descendants of Purple.com were launched, including SometimesRedSometimesBlue.com and LetsTurnThisFuckingWebsiteYellow.com. In February 2008, San Francisco-based writer Mathew Honan launched a single serving site (now defunct) called Barack Obama is Your New Bicycle, which generates a random Barack Obama non sequitur.
List of single-serving sites
The following is a list of single-serving website examples. Websites that do not make the creator apparent, either through the source code or a social media link have, "Creator Unknown" listed in the creator column.