# Britannica11.org

14 Hacker News commenters recommended Britannica11.org and 6 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 1 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** A free, fast online version of the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica that people enjoy browsing and find nostalgic. Critics note search and rendering errors.

## Why people recommend it

- Feels like the original, but usable (3 comments): "The goal was to make something that feels like the original, but is actually usable." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47851896)) "Those are both great projects and this one is definitely in the same spirit." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47852223)) "The articles have a personal tone and are less homogenized." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47852747))
- Nostalgic browsing of old gems (4 comments): "Very nice. I actually spent a bit of time browsing a few topics, which is something I rarely do these days!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47854591)) "The 11th is full of gems like that, but they've never been easy to point people to." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47852248)) "As a time travel machine for the mind, this is great!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47860235))
- Fast, high-quality online resource (4 comments): "I couldn't have imagined the quality of this Encyclopædia with this form that you have presented." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47858083)) "This is an amazing resource to have online." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47852175)) "Thanks a lot for this incredible gem!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47853509))

## What people warn about

- Text rendering errors in tables and fonts (2 comments): "There’s an escaping issue in tables of contents." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47861611)) "the font you’ve chosen doesn’t support ℔" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47852157))
- Fidelity and image problems (2 comments): "I noticed some fidelity issues in your version" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47853758)) "Something is wrong with images here" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47880348))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Wikipedia](https://hackerapproved.com/p/wikipedia.md): 404 recommend
- [Grokipedia](https://hackerapproved.com/p/grokipedia.md): 52 recommend
- [Local Wikipedia](https://hackerapproved.com/p/local-wikipedia.md): 45 recommend
- [Wikidata](https://hackerapproved.com/p/wikidata.md): 13 recommend
- [Wiktionary](https://hackerapproved.com/p/wiktionary.md): 12 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Britannica11.org", https://hackerapproved.com/p/britannica11-org/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).