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Show HN: Windows 7 GUI for the web

khang-nd.github.io

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Re: Show HN: Windows 7 GUI for the web

#31

Post by shortrounddev2 »

cosmic_cheese wrote: post #19

Very nice. Does anybody else find it a bit striking how gracefully this look has aged? With a little bit of tuning it could feel pretty modern. Modern UI design could stand to take not just a few pages but the majority of the book from both the Windows 7 variant of Aero and the OS X 10.9 variant of Aqua, in my opinion. Legibility, information density, and communication of interactability and widget function have all…

Who do I assign blame to for horrible modern UX design? Is it the hubris of designers who believe that the constraints of the human body should be felled by minimalist purity? Is it bean counters who weaponize industrial psychology to create flat, boring UI to increase engagement/addiction? Is it the average technology user who has simply become too stupid to use anything other than a touchscreen? Why does it seem like everyone I've talked to about this agrees that basically all modern technology products are boring and uninspired compared to just 15 years ago, but it also seems like we keep building (and buying) boring, uninspired technology products?

Re: Show HN: Windows 7 GUI for the web

#32

Post by johnebgd »

cosmic_cheese wrote: post #19

Very nice. Does anybody else find it a bit striking how gracefully this look has aged? With a little bit of tuning it could feel pretty modern. Modern UI design could stand to take not just a few pages but the majority of the book from both the Windows 7 variant of Aero and the OS X 10.9 variant of Aqua, in my opinion. Legibility, information density, and communication of interactability and widget function have all…

MacOS X 10.4 was peak Apple UI design from my personal experience. That metal look was pretty…

Android, Windows and iOS all look similar now… macOS is shifting that way…

Bring back skeuomorphic design…

Re: Show HN: Windows 7 GUI for the web

#33

Post by saurik »

wredcoll wrote: post #17
malikNF wrote: post #14

Every time I see something about windows7 coming up, I feel a little sad. 7 imo was the last good windows ms came up with. I remember upgrading to it was something worth bragging to your friends in school. There was so much excitement around it. After 7, something felt, broken, new features felt unnecessary, things got more user hostile, the magic, it was just gone!

Older people feel exactly the same way about windows2000... or sometimes 98... or 3.1...

I think the usual adage is that every other version of Windows is pretty good.

Re: Show HN: Windows 7 GUI for the web

#34

Post by cosmic_cheese »

jszymborski wrote: post #30
cosmic_cheese wrote: post #19

Very nice. Does anybody else find it a bit striking how gracefully this look has aged? With a little bit of tuning it could feel pretty modern. Modern UI design could stand to take not just a few pages but the majority of the book from both the Windows 7 variant of Aero and the OS X 10.9 variant of Aqua, in my opinion. Legibility, information density, and communication of interactability and widget function have all…

I used Windows 7 in my formative years, so I'll always have a fond spot in my heart for it. That said, I really do think the Windows NT era had the best UI in terms of brute usability. Again, I love Aero's faux glass, cyan highlights, high gloss, etc... but it is indeed a lot of noise and I think it's a bit distracting.

The 95-like look (of which I think the 2K variant is best) does have a bit of an edge in terms of usability, but it also looks considerably more dated. A similarly legible theme from that era that I think time has been more kind to is Platinum, the theme used by Mac OS from System 7.6.1 through Mac OS 9.2.1.

Any new UI design looking to incorporate Aero’s good bits would be smart to tone the look down a little.

Re: Show HN: Windows 7 GUI for the web

#35

Post by cosmic_cheese »

shortrounddev2 wrote: post #31
cosmic_cheese wrote: post #19

Very nice. Does anybody else find it a bit striking how gracefully this look has aged? With a little bit of tuning it could feel pretty modern. Modern UI design could stand to take not just a few pages but the majority of the book from both the Windows 7 variant of Aero and the OS X 10.9 variant of Aqua, in my opinion. Legibility, information density, and communication of interactability and widget function have all…

Who do I assign blame to for horrible modern UX design? Is it the hubris of designers who believe that the constraints of the human body should be felled by minimalist purity? Is it bean counters who weaponize industrial psychology to create flat, boring UI to increase engagement/addiction? Is it the average technology user who has simply become too stupid to use anything other than a touchscreen? Why does it seem li…

I’m a dev not a designer, but I’d personally point to a few things:

- An influx of print/commercial/etc designers into UI design, who lack the full suite of knowledge and skills to design usable UI, crowding out the UI designer old guard

- The likes of Dribbble and other social media kicking off self reinforcing minimalism trends within the field

- The rise of “UI as branding” which places brand identity far above practical usability in terms of priorities

There are other factors like indie devs not wanting to hire a designer for their projects and just phoning that part in (which flat is conducive to), but they don’t have nearly as much sway on industry trends at large.

Re: Show HN: Windows 7 GUI for the web

#36

Post by wolpoli »

wredcoll wrote: post #17
malikNF wrote: post #14

Every time I see something about windows7 coming up, I feel a little sad. 7 imo was the last good windows ms came up with. I remember upgrading to it was something worth bragging to your friends in school. There was so much excitement around it. After 7, something felt, broken, new features felt unnecessary, things got more user hostile, the magic, it was just gone!

Older people feel exactly the same way about windows2000... or sometimes 98... or 3.1...

I hadn't read anyone talk about how UI peaked at Windows 3.1 through. Perhaps most people just start their desktop computing journey with 95.

Re: Show HN: Windows 7 GUI for the web

#38

Post by carlosjobim »

cosmic_cheese wrote: post #19

Very nice. Does anybody else find it a bit striking how gracefully this look has aged? With a little bit of tuning it could feel pretty modern. Modern UI design could stand to take not just a few pages but the majority of the book from both the Windows 7 variant of Aero and the OS X 10.9 variant of Aqua, in my opinion. Legibility, information density, and communication of interactability and widget function have all…

> With a little bit of tuning it could feel pretty modern.

This little bit of tuning is called Shine 2.0 and is still the most modern desktop user interface, even though it was published in 2010:

https://www.deviantart.com/zainadeel/art/Shine-2-0-for-Windo...

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