So I'm currently toying around with NeoCities, and decided to trial it by building your classic mid '90s Geocities/Tripod/Angelfire pastiche website.
Some of the most important elements are already in place.
Tile background? Large font? Heading in bright pink with a shadow? Unusual colour choices? Random cat gifs? Under construction gif? Check! Check! Check!
In the true spirit of the '90s DIY web, some more pages (including the links page) are coming soon.
(I'm thinking of adding a page dedicated to either Britney or a nu-metal band.)
Yes, the background pattern and colours should be chosen to actively interfere with reading any text on the page. For example, it's great if there's large patches of black in the background and the text is also black.
Flashing is also key. A lot of text should be flashing and there should be unreadable ticker tape text at random places.