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Remembering Windows 3.1 themes and user empowerment

hisham.hm

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Re: Remembering Windows 3.1 themes and user empowerment

#111

Post by TeMPOraL »

bsdubernerd wrote: post #98
forgetfulness wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Theming was HUGE in Linux back in 2005-2010, consistency was paramount, adherence to toolkit was extremely important just like Apple claimed. For Apple it was about delivering a consistent branded experience, for the GNOME and KDE communities it was about being able to consistently customize the experience. In Windows? Always a free-for-all of such heavy customization on the side of the third-party applications that…

I agree that theming was much more consistent a decade ago in linux-land. GTK2 + QT with GTK2-style would get you an almost seamless experience. The "dark or light" theme we have today is an absolute joke by comparison. Many Gtk-engines were also much faster in terms of pure rendering speed. Another issue as mentioned is that per-control CSS skinning breaks easily with custom themes. Instead of using system colors de…

> Another issue as mentioned is that per-control CSS skinning breaks easily with custom themes. Instead of using system colors devs often hard-code a custom look.

Ironically, you used to be able to use system colors via CSS. Like it usually happens on the web, that feature was also removed because of security reasons - apparently it made it easier for scammers to render fake system popups.

Re: Remembering Windows 3.1 themes and user empowerment

#112

Post by there »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #25

I wish there were real high-quality Linux and Windows themes imitating Windows 3.x, 98 and XP (and some other old OSes perhaps) realistically, not just "kind of like that". I would even pay money for such if I were satisfied. Ideally, they should also be easy to combine in different ways. E.g. I want Win3.11 pixel art icons, Win98 window&panel styles and WinXP non-antialiased fonts - these 3 things make me feel orgas…

https://github.com/jcs/progman

Re: Remembering Windows 3.1 themes and user empowerment

#113

Post by floatboth »

joshmanders wrote: post #14

There will always be tinkerers and people who want to customize their stuff to their personality, but I think the majority of people don't want to tinker, they want to "get shit done" and the standard wallpaper and theming of stuff now days is visually pleasing enough to not mess with it.

Default wallpapers are sometimes so good that people import them to other OSes :D

Re: Remembering Windows 3.1 themes and user empowerment

#115

Post by ryandrake »

wott wrote: post #96
ryandrake wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a lot of things developers were doing in the 80s and 90s that developers of today will insist simply can’t be done.

They're too busy dropping platforms support, dropping backends support, dropping 32-bit support... in the name of the burden of 'maintaining' code that works, is proven (on the field) and basically hasn't moved in 10 years.

Not to mention dropping features and taking what few powerful features remain, and burying them deep in a “hamburger” menu so the main screen can have more whitespace.

Re: Remembering Windows 3.1 themes and user empowerment

#116

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

joshmanders wrote: post #108
AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never claimed MacOS was inaccessible. I don't even use MacOS, and haven't since about 10.1. I don't believe I've made any claims about MacOS at all, actually.

macOS or Windows. Both are leading operating systems and are both very accessible. You're ranting and raving for absolute zero reason at all. You have no facts to back up your claims nor any actual experience.

I don't get where you think that I am claiming these operating systems lack accessibility features. That's an invention of yours.

I do make the verifiable claim that they lack the configurability of Windows 3 as regards font and color choices throughout the UI, and further that this is in fact an accessibility feature in itself.

Windows 10, for instance, only allows you to change the "accent color" and select either "light mode" or "dark mode". While it does allow a change in font size, if there's a place in its settings dialogs to change the default font itself I couldn't find it, although I did find a place to change it in the registry.

Re: Remembering Windows 3.1 themes and user empowerment

#118

Post by TeMPOraL »

grishka wrote: post #30

Themeability doesn't rule out consistency. As long as all UIs use the system theme, they look consistent, no matter what that theme is. A good example of that was Windows XP and all the funny and atrocious themes you could put on it with WindowBlinds.

> As long as all UIs use the system theme

That's the root problem, though, isn't it? It's a business/people problem. You won't have consistent UIs as long as software vendors consider look&feel as something to exploit for branding or competitive advantage. Since user feedback is rarely sought and routinely ignored in computing, you'd need the OS vendor to either disallow UIs not conforming to system theme, or make them impossible (by taking away the API for per-pixel drawing). Neither of those options is likely to happen.

Re: Remembering Windows 3.1 themes and user empowerment

#119

Post by majewsky »

flohofwoe wrote: post #48

I want Linux-like anarchy^H^H^Hthemability on Windows and macOS. I'm not keen on tweaking the appearance of every little button, but I want to go 'theme-shopping' from time to time and change the appearance of my desktop. Just to make it look a bit different now and then. It's interesting that the most slick and stylish desktops are now on Linux (of course there's 99% trash, but the remaining 1% are a lot more aesthe…

> anarchy^H^H^Hthemability

What's anarthemability?

Re: Remembering Windows 3.1 themes and user empowerment

#120

Post by doodpants »

Joker_vD wrote: post #94
gambiting wrote: post #84

It's truly shocking to me how few people even change their wallpaper. I work in a video games studio and like 90% of people have the default windows logo on blue background wallpaper. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice wallpaper, but people have their custom figurines and personal trinkets on the desks, but won't bother to change the wallpaper on their desktop.

For how long, approximately, can you see your desktop's wallpaper during a day? I see mine for about 5 seconds during the boot, after that Chrome auto-launches, and I never see the desktop until the next reboot (all the non-browser apps I use are pinned on my taskbar). So what's the point to change it? Instead, I always change my mouse cursors to the Garfield theme from defunct Microsoft Plus! -- they are of pretty n…

I constantly see at least parts of my desktop wallpaper peeking out from around and in between whatever windows I have open. (I personally have never felt any need or desire to use apps in full-screen mode.)
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