An independent reading list, kept by hand.

Margin is an independent periodical kept by a small editorial hand. It takes the modest form of a reading list: 797 hand-catalogued websites across 22 sections, one long issue, one spread per section.

The magazine grew from the modest conviction that the web is best browsed in the same way a good library is browsed — by category, in alphabetical order, with a short description for each entry, and without an algorithm intervening between reader and shelf. The sections are read in turn or, more often, at random; the reader is presumed to know what they were looking for, or to be willing to find out.

Margin does not score, star or rank. An entry is either present or it is not, and the reader is the only judge of what suits them. We try only to keep the description honest, the spelling correct and the address current. If a site falls dark or its character changes, the entry is quietly withdrawn at the next reading.

How an issue is made

Each issue of the magazine is a single long scroll, divided into sections. The cover gives the colophon — volume, number, the count of entries and the section count. The sections follow in alphabetical order. Within each section, the entries are listed alphabetically by domain, in the same plain face that has served catalogues since printing began.

A section is opened by its number, its title and a short note from the editor; the entries follow as a list of plain pairs, the domain in one column and the description in another. There is no ranking, no recommendation and no advertising; the section’s usefulness is the sum of the entries it gathers, and not of any commentary that might intrude between them.

Editorial policy

Margin will list any site that exists, publishes plain terms, and whose description holds together when read. It will not list sites that are merely funnels — pages composed of redirects, of search-engine bait, or of nothing that the reader could honestly want.

The magazine has no political alignment. It is not a search engine and does not pretend to be one. It does not collect any data about the reader beyond what is required to deliver the issue. It does not advertise. It does not, of itself, endorse any listed party. The reader is presumed adult and is asked, before any consequential dealing with a listed site, to read that site’s own terms and to take whatever counsel they require.

Submitting a site

To submit a site, go to the submission page. The form asks for a URL, a section, and a few optional notes. There is no charge, now or later. A site is read for the next issue once submitted; if the description holds and the address is plain, the entry is printed.

Margin is, in the end, the small republic of pages that the publisher and a few quiet readers wish to keep visible. We hope it is of use.