C Compass field-book
Est. MMXXVI · Field Book · Open Web

Compass field-book

A hand-kept field-book of the web’s quieter corners — 796 sites mapped across 22 sections. Wander a shelf, or pin your own site to the map.


796 Sites
22 Sections
Free to log
Have a site to add?

Pin your site to the field-book

Pick a section, drop your URL, and it’s logged in under a minute. No fee, no catch — always free.

+ Log a site

Field-book questions

Who keeps the Compass field-book?

A small editorial team. Every submission is read by a person before the pin goes live, and we periodically walk the shelves to prune stale or broken sites.

Is listing really free?

Yes. There is no fee at any point — not for the listing, not for placement, not for keeping the pin. The field-book is funded as a long-running side project, not as a business.

How many sites are in the field-book?

Right now 796 sites are pinned across 22 sections. The number creeps up steadily as new submissions come in and stale entries are pulled.

How do you decide what to pin?

We look for a working homepage, an honest description and a fit with one of our 22 sections. We aren’t a quality jury — we just say no to spam, scams and malware.

How long does a submission take?

Usually a minute. The form auto-fetches your description if you leave it blank, files the pin under the section you chose, and the site is live immediately.

Can I change or remove my pin later?

Yes. Send a note via the submission page — include the URL and what you’d like changed (description, section, removal) and we’ll handle it by hand.

Do outbound links pass SEO value?

Outbound links are marked nofollow noopener as standard. The point of the field-book is discovery, not link-building, though humans visiting humans is always welcome.

Why a directory instead of search?

Because a hand-kept field-book serves the curious reader in ways a ranked results page doesn’t. Wandering a section is a different kind of browsing — slower, less manipulated, often more rewarding.

About Compass

Compass is a small editorial team’s field-book of the working web — a hand-kept catalog of sites organised by section, pinned by people rather than ranked by algorithms. Anyone can submit a site for free; every entry is read and pinned by hand.

We write about each section in plain field-notes voice: a sentence or two about what the section is for, who tends to read it, and what counts as a fair listing. The point is to make it easier for a curious visitor to wander from one corner of the open web to the next without falling through a hole in someone’s ranking algorithm.

If you keep a useful website — large or small, indie or institutional — pin it to the map. Listing is free, fast, and pleasant. The field-book is open.