Sophie Koonin

Web Engineering Lead

Sophie Koonin

Web Engineering Lead

Sophie Koonin

Building a website like it's 1999, in 2023

Remember Geocities? The unbridled creativity and questionable colour schemes of a bygone era. The time when websites existed as wild reflections of your personality rather than carbon copies of a Facebook page or Twitter feed. Sites weren't algorithmically recommended, but shared organically through links pages and webrings.

The personal website is having a renaissance right now - let’s bring back some of the ridiculousness. We have better tools, better knowledge of accessibility, and better browser support than ever - so I’ll show you how to use the tools of today to recreate the magic of yesterday!

About

Sophie is the web engineering lead at Monzo Bank in London, responsible for the web platform across the organisation and working on internal tooling that powers Monzo’s award-winning customer service. Building websites since the age of 10, she’s passionate about creating inclusive, accessible and fun websites that people love. Sophie writes about tech & mental health at localghost.dev, builds intentionally useless web apps, and makes music.