Modern websites shouldn't require high-speed fiber just to read an essay.
I started learning web development on a 2G connection.
When your internet speed is 30 kbps, the modern web is unusable. A 5MB page full of JavaScript and trackers either burns your data or times out completely. A 2 KB plain text page opens instantly.
Today, fast fiber and AI tools make it easy to generate megabytes of code without thinking about the cost. But for someone on an older phone, a patchy connection, or a metered plan, web bloat is a real barrier to accessing knowledge.
Mu was built around a simple principle:
- Zero JavaScript
- Pure plain text in Notepad
- Sub-3 KB total page transfer
- Standalone binaries that don't depend on fragile runtimes
I don't care about monetizing this. I just wanted to build something fast, durable, and respectful of the reader's bandwidth.
— Joel