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(mac)ostalgia – how Spotify, Slack, Chrome, Figma could look on Mac OS 9

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Re: (mac)ostalgia – how Spotify, Slack, Chrome, Figma could look on Mac OS 9

#131

Post by laputan_machine »

floam wrote: post #7
floam wrote: post #5

Stimulates a bit of an impulse I had as a teenager and wanting to experience that on my PC, or get into BeOS or QNX, based just on witnessing screenshots and something deeply striking my fancy. Before I got into Linux (which was before I got a Mac in 2006), I used WindowBlinds and LiteStep to do exactly that, and more. I used to really care more about certain trappings of my experience, and I didn't have any actual w…

"542 lines of code" (a configuration file), "best viewed in tahoma size 7"... cringe. In my defense, it was 2001-2002, I mostly had MS Paint at my disposal, and I was 14 (and not like a smart 14).

For some reason when I was that age I loved tiny fonts, too. Actually a nice theme, I probably would have used it!

Re: (mac)ostalgia – how Spotify, Slack, Chrome, Figma could look on Mac OS 9

#132

Post by bitigchi »

icelancer wrote: post #128
Duckton wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you give some examples on why you think Windows XP is better than macOS and also how macOS is crap?

Command vs. ALT/CTRL bindings are vastly superior in Windows. The MacOS method of using the Command button is different for the sake of being different, not for any actual productive reason. I had the first Macbook Retina and used it for years at a company where it made sense to do so; when I handed it in and left for my own startup life, I was open to either OS (couldn't use Linux as the daily driver since I my indu…

LOL.

Not at all. Mac keyboard shortcuts are explicitly more reachable than its Windows counterparts. Try reaching alt+f4 versus command+w/q. Also macOS incorporates more keyboard shortcuts than any other OS.

You will need to elaborate more on this one.

Re: (mac)ostalgia – how Spotify, Slack, Chrome, Figma could look on Mac OS 9

#133

Post by 2-718-281-828 »

Duckton wrote: post #122
2-718-281-828 wrote: post #116

Mac OS UI is a great example for why one shouldn't "improve" software just for the sake for changing something. UI design peaked at Windows XP style. the design portraied here falls for my opinion in that category. As a user of xfce (on Linux Mint) which is basically Windows XP with different icons I am super happy. Apple actually came up with only a single valuable UI element and that is the three finger swipe to sw…

Can you give some examples on why you think Windows XP is better than macOS and also how macOS is crap?

- Finder

- Applications not actually being terminated when clicking on the close icon

- lagging / unreliable context menu opening with middle-index-finger on apps in dock bar

- the concept of installing something by moving it from an icon on the left to an icon on the right

- or when you can't start apps due to connectivity issues

- app removal is totally opaque and sometimes requires to download a custom uninstallation tool (adobe creative cloud f.x.)

Re: (mac)ostalgia – how Spotify, Slack, Chrome, Figma could look on Mac OS 9

#134

Post by Duckton »

icelancer wrote: post #128
Duckton wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you give some examples on why you think Windows XP is better than macOS and also how macOS is crap?

Command vs. ALT/CTRL bindings are vastly superior in Windows. The MacOS method of using the Command button is different for the sake of being different, not for any actual productive reason. I had the first Macbook Retina and used it for years at a company where it made sense to do so; when I handed it in and left for my own startup life, I was open to either OS (couldn't use Linux as the daily driver since I my indu…

It’s funny how different it can be for different people.

I switch regularly between macOS and Fedora, and have windows on a ssd for gaming. I agree on the Command vs. CTRL bindings thing. It’s annoying when switching between the two systems.

I recently wanted to pick up unity, and decided to try it on windows. I have to say, as strongly as you find macOS annoying I find windows annoying. Fx system settings, for some reason when I have to change something it takes me ages to navigate through the UI to find what I’m looking for. But maybe it’s all just personal preference and what one is used to.

Re: (mac)ostalgia – how Spotify, Slack, Chrome, Figma could look on Mac OS 9

#135

Post by Wowfunhappy »

icelancer wrote: post #128
Duckton wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you give some examples on why you think Windows XP is better than macOS and also how macOS is crap?

Command vs. ALT/CTRL bindings are vastly superior in Windows. The MacOS method of using the Command button is different for the sake of being different, not for any actual productive reason. I had the first Macbook Retina and used it for years at a company where it made sense to do so; when I handed it in and left for my own startup life, I was open to either OS (couldn't use Linux as the daily driver since I my indu…

> The MacOS method of using the Command button is different for the sake of being different, not for any actual productive reason.

I’m actually pretty sure the Mac’s Command key predates ctrl being used for this purpose.

Re: (mac)ostalgia – how Spotify, Slack, Chrome, Figma could look on Mac OS 9

#136

Post by laputan_machine »

chrisseaton wrote: post #65
labster wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, the old icons are objectively better. I’ve used iPhones since the iPhone 1 and I still keep the original as a music player. I have to hunt down apps on current iOS but astonishingly they all look somewhat different in the old days, which means they are easier to find. It’s easier to find my way around an old iOS I use once a month than one I use every hour.

> No, the old icons are objectively better. Do you mean you're used to the old icons? My seven-year-old wouldn't recognise them.

Are you a UI Researcher? If you are, your approach to gathering research by rebuking everyone else's opinions seems less than optimal. FWIW I prefer skeumorphic design. Flat design won because it made scaling everything easier. It doesn't need to be this way now that SVG support has become widespread

Re: (mac)ostalgia – how Spotify, Slack, Chrome, Figma could look on Mac OS 9

#137

Post by Duckton »

2-718-281-828 wrote: post #133
Duckton wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you give some examples on why you think Windows XP is better than macOS and also how macOS is crap?

- Finder - Applications not actually being terminated when clicking on the close icon - lagging / unreliable context menu opening with middle-index-finger on apps in dock bar - the concept of installing something by moving it from an icon on the left to an icon on the right - or when you can't start apps due to connectivity issues - app removal is totally opaque and sometimes requires to download a custom uninstallat…

I find finder more productive than explorer.

I love the fact that clicking the close icon of a window doesn’t terminate the application

Haven’t experienced this, not sure what you are referring to.

Also something I like. The fact that an installation is just moving an executable, is to me, superior to an entire process with regedit and what not.

As I said somewhere below, it might just come down to what one is used to and not objective facts.

Re: (mac)ostalgia – how Spotify, Slack, Chrome, Figma could look on Mac OS 9

#138

Post by kaba0 »

29athrowaway wrote: post #10

This would not only look great, but run incredibly fast: Low-res bitmap icons, bitmap fonts, no antialiasing, no composition, etc. On Linux you can still have a pretty old school desktop with some of these elements... but may not run well on HiDPI.

> Low-res bitmap icons, bitmap fonts, no antialiasing, no composition, etc.

I don’t think that high-res icons, vector fonts, aliasing and composition meaningfully effect today’s hardware — we can and do have GPUs barely sweating on even much more demanding functionality and these are mostly parallelisable/easily cacheable things. If anything, they take up some GPU memory.

What makes some of today’s apps resource hogs is the different abstraction level which can be useful (accessibility was absolutely not something important back then and even today it is not without lack), cross-platform, but often much more leaky than it could be.

Re: (mac)ostalgia – how Spotify, Slack, Chrome, Figma could look on Mac OS 9

#139

Post by UncleSlacky »

jonpalmisc wrote: post #2

Wow, this is incredible. Can’t imagine how much work this took. Seeing this makes me think about how many modern applications could learn a few things from the old Mac OS 8/9 Human Interface Guidelines. [0] [0] http://mirror.informatimago.com/next/developer.apple.com/doc...

You might like helloSystem, it's explicitly based on the original Apple HIG:

https://hellosystem.github.io/docs/developer/ux-guidelines.h...

Re: (mac)ostalgia – how Spotify, Slack, Chrome, Figma could look on Mac OS 9

#140

Post by jayd16 »

Duckton wrote: post #122
2-718-281-828 wrote: post #116

Mac OS UI is a great example for why one shouldn't "improve" software just for the sake for changing something. UI design peaked at Windows XP style. the design portraied here falls for my opinion in that category. As a user of xfce (on Linux Mint) which is basically Windows XP with different icons I am super happy. Apple actually came up with only a single valuable UI element and that is the three finger swipe to sw…

Can you give some examples on why you think Windows XP is better than macOS and also how macOS is crap?

MacOS and its applications relegate far too much functionality to hidden "power tools." Often its impossible to know what is clickable in macOS.

Windows XP features were easy to discover. Scroll bars were not hidden. Buttons looked like buttons.

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