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Make Linux look like Windows 95

lunduke.substack.com

171–180 of 207 posts

Re: Make Linux look like Windows 95

#171
Now, that's cozy!

I very much prefer the "physical" design of windows 9x to the more graphic one of XP and whatever the shit you want to call that horribly ugly clusterfuck of a mess that is 10.

Re: Make Linux look like Windows 95

#172
post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I originally used a ZX-81. Can't say I miss the UI.

I grew up with a Commodore 64, can't say that I miss the UI either. That said, I recently learnt that it was possible to cursor up to a prior command/statement to edit and re-execute it (in other words, the screen was the history buffer). That's an awesome feature. It is also an illustration of how older user interfaces had some redeeming and forgotten UI features.

I grew up with a Commodore 128, and it had two screen buffers---one for 40-column mode and one for 80-column mode. I remember listing some code on the 80-column side of things so that I could edit it there and insert it into the code I had over on the 40-column side. I felt clever that day.

Re: Make Linux look like Windows 95

#173

I'll be the first to say the unpopular take on HN: I don't think Windows 95 looks that good (compared to today). I personally find more modern (like MacOS 10) styles to look the best, and flat designs to be just as usable as more skeumorphic ones. It seems to me that preference for UI styles is completely personal, probably being influenced by what OS we initially used. As someone (potentially a lot) younger than man…

> It seems to me that preference for UI styles is completely personal, probably being influenced by what OS we initially used. My first GUI "OS" was Win3.1 and while i do have some bits of nostalgia for it, i do not think it is a particularly good UI. It is a bit better than Win95 in one element where they tried to introduce a consistency where every element that represented a command was supposed to have a 3D/bevel…

I was always annoyed by the apparent lack of consistency between flat and beveled elements in Win3.1, and liked 95 better for its relative homogeneity across the UI. Now I get why they did 3.1 that way! Thanks for explaining this.

Re: Make Linux look like Windows 95

#174
post #171

Now, that's cozy! I very much prefer the "physical" design of windows 9x to the more graphic one of XP and whatever the shit you want to call that horribly ugly clusterfuck of a mess that is 10.

Totally agree. I'm ready for the tides of fashion to turn once more and skeuomorphism to be the way again.

Re: Make Linux look like Windows 95

#175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, you simply let users know what's a button by the visual decorations and differentiated edges? And you let them know the status of toggle buttons without forcing them to toggle multiple times and guess based on which colors what might mean what? Blasphemy! Next you'll be letting web pages readers know what is and is not a link by using a consistent underline scheme. Which would be a completely unacceptable level…

Remember when buttons, when pressed, looked pressed? I remember!

Wow I've somehow completely missed the gradual disappearance of this. So many buttons now only have the hover effect.

Re: Make Linux look like Windows 95

#176
post #171

Now, that's cozy! I very much prefer the "physical" design of windows 9x to the more graphic one of XP and whatever the shit you want to call that horribly ugly clusterfuck of a mess that is 10.

Totally agree. I'm ready for the tides of fashion to turn once more and skeuomorphism to be the way again.

Only if we can skip right past Windows 95 and have XView/OpenWindows back, thank you in advance.

Re: Make Linux look like Windows 95

#178

This with WINE is what I think is the perfect combination of GUI and CLI... but as a long-time Windows user, several things stood out and made it look slightly off: the menu bar and padding around the icon labels is too tall the window borders are slightly too wide (compared to the default) scrollbar buttons shouldn't disable at end of travel sort direction indicator in header control (which first appeared in Win2k)…

Is "keming" a graphical pun on "kerning"?

I didn't notice that at first glance. It's beautiful.

Re: Make Linux look like Windows 95

#179
post #171

Now, that's cozy! I very much prefer the "physical" design of windows 9x to the more graphic one of XP and whatever the shit you want to call that horribly ugly clusterfuck of a mess that is 10.

Heh, the nice thing about XP was that I didn't feel obligated to force my Linux desktop into cross-toolkit consistency anymore. I seem to recall Outlook pulling from the XP widgets for the Inbox scrollbar and the 9x widgets for the Preview scrollbar. At first, disgust; followed by relief.

Re: Make Linux look like Windows 95

#180
Compared to my main desktop running Windows 3.11 [1], I have to say, this 95 thing is quite the looker - extremely visually appealing.

3.11 is starting to feel a bit dated, now that my wife is showing off her TRS80.[2] Her machine is actually a portable that can be placed on a desk anywhere and plugged into any outlet! This 95 seems a fine upgrade path to newer hardware!

[1] https://winworldpc.com/product/windows-3/311

[2] http://www.trs-80.org/model-1/

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