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Chicago95 – Windows 95 Theme for Linux

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Re: Chicago95 – Windows 95 Theme for Linux

#21

Post by jeroenhd »

Karellen wrote: post #14

Such a pity GTK3 and later aren't intended to be themeable, and the devs make no release-to-release compatibility guarantees for the theme engines. If this only affected Gnome, I wouldn't mind so much. But so many regular non-Gnome apps I use are GTK-based, even if I pick a different DE (which I do), I can't personalise my own user experience in a way that's consistent. The UX I keep behind a password, so I doesn't m…

I love the Gnome design language but the way they made theming so difficult has put me off using GTK for anything. Sadly, I don't know any better alternatives for my language of choice (Rust).

I get that developers don't want their app to be stylized and broken by distro maintainers, but now none of them look native or good. It's like that time Android apps all started inventing their own bad UI themes, nothing feels native anymore and everything is a chore to use.

In theory, if every app kept their libadwaita versions and modifications up to date, you can still offer themes and everything works great. I practice, there's inconsistency everywhere and theming is impossible to apply to every application.

Re: Chicago95 – Windows 95 Theme for Linux

#22

Post by gattilorenz »

Related: is there any "high resolution" version of setup.bmp (https://raw.githubusercontent.com/grassmunk/Chicago95/5670fd...) that does not kill the spirit of it? I tried upscaling it, but it's like upscaling pixel art...

I guess my best bet would be retaking the original pictures (the OG MS Natural Keyboard, CDs, etc.) and recreating it, but it sounds like plenty of work

Re: Chicago95 – Windows 95 Theme for Linux

#23

Post by anthk »

mrabcx wrote: post #2

Some of these old style themes are interesting for nostalgic reasons but then after a while you do realize that there are reasons why the world has moved on.

Yeah, to worse.

On Windows XP, beside the childish theme, the window buttons were very usable.

Ditto with XFCE with some xfwm4 with a round-surface squared buttons on yellow, green and red, you can find it under the last items of the list.

Let's talk about the icons and usability. On overy modern Gnome3/XP icon theme, the icons seem contrastless and very hard to see.

Meanwhile, the Tango icons are still standing a lot on the file manager's white background, with clear outlines.

Re: Chicago95 – Windows 95 Theme for Linux

#24

Post by CalRobert »

mrabcx wrote: post #2

Some of these old style themes are interesting for nostalgic reasons but then after a while you do realize that there are reasons why the world has moved on.

Moved on to dark patterns and dumbed down interfaces. Personally, I really miss mnemonics. Alt+underlined letter for_everything_. But having an underlined letter for everything died out and keyboard nav means a lot more memorization.

Re: Chicago95 – Windows 95 Theme for Linux

#25

Post by troad »

I'm a big fan of this aesthetic. If you appreciate the usability of W95 without needing a pixel perfect copy, it's very easy to theme KDE to strike a really good balance.

As your global theme, use 'Reactionary'. Set your application style to 'MS Windows 9x'. For your icons, use 'Memphis98'. For cursors, 'Hackneyed (scaleable)'. Your Plasma style, colours, and window decorations should all follow your global theme (Reactionary). I keep the default Noto fonts because I find them quite easy on the eyes, but this is easy to change if you yearn for classic fonts.

My task bar (bottom bar) is set to use full names and not combine apps; I also use the application menu that looks like W95, and I've got it set to use a little W95 Start icon for that touch of nostalgia. Otherwise it's all very minimalist.

I've used this set-up for years and it works really well for me. I find it very conducive to being productive - it's stable, unchanging, and respectful of my attention and focus. I also don't need to hack away at anything or worry about updates - KDE officially supports theming and handles all of this really seamlessly.

Re: Chicago95 – Windows 95 Theme for Linux

#26

Post by soraminazuki »

reacharavindh wrote: post #4

Not that I want the UX To _look_ like Windows 95, but I sure do feel nostalgic how fast and responsive the desktop “felt” back in those days. These days, it is a rarity to see a native app that is as responsive. It feels like all native apps burn through CPU cycles in cosmetic things and animations that it feels sluggish in comparison.

That's not how I remember it. Windows 9x was slow and constantly crashing. Booting and launching programs took ages. To be fair, the performance problems had more to do with the available hardware back then, but still.

Re: Chicago95 – Windows 95 Theme for Linux

#27

Post by post-it »

gattilorenz wrote: post #22

Related: is there any "high resolution" version of setup.bmp ( https://raw.githubusercontent.com/grassmunk/Chicago95/5670fd... ) that does not kill the spirit of it? I tried upscaling it, but it's like upscaling pixel art... I guess my best bet would be retaking the original pictures (the OG MS Natural Keyboard, CDs, etc.) and recreating it, but it sounds like plenty of work

You could scale it without interpolation, giving you a crisper image at larger resolutions without blurring or smoothing.

Re: Chicago95 – Windows 95 Theme for Linux

#28

Post by antegamisou »

mrabcx wrote: post #2

Some of these old style themes are interesting for nostalgic reasons but then after a while you do realize that there are reasons why the world has moved on.

Personally Windows 8 UI and after is the reason I'm never going to touch this specific OS again. In fact, I find it an even bigger hindrance than the monstrosity Windows Updates is.

Re: Chicago95 – Windows 95 Theme for Linux

#29

Post by MrBuddyCasino »

soraminazuki wrote: post #26
reacharavindh wrote: post #4

Not that I want the UX To _look_ like Windows 95, but I sure do feel nostalgic how fast and responsive the desktop “felt” back in those days. These days, it is a rarity to see a native app that is as responsive. It feels like all native apps burn through CPU cycles in cosmetic things and animations that it feels sluggish in comparison.

That's not how I remember it. Windows 9x was slow and constantly crashing. Booting and launching programs took ages. To be fair, the performance problems had more to do with the available hardware back then, but still.

IO was slow. Once stuff was in RAM, it was quite fast.

Re: Chicago95 – Windows 95 Theme for Linux

#30

Post by anthk »

troad wrote: post #25

I'm a big fan of this aesthetic. If you appreciate the usability of W95 without needing a pixel perfect copy, it's very easy to theme KDE to strike a really good balance. As your global theme, use 'Reactionary'. Set your application style to 'MS Windows 9x'. For your icons, use 'Memphis98'. For cursors, 'Hackneyed (scaleable)'. Your Plasma style, colours, and window decorations should all follow your global theme (Re…

You can use Chicago 95's icons perfectly under KDE.
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