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System.css: A design system for building retro Apple interfaces

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Re: System.css: A design system for building retro Apple interfaces

#31
post #9

When I look at this I can’t help thinking that desktop UX reached its peak (or plateau?) three decades ago. What improvements have there been since System 6? Perhaps multiple desktops, tabs, and universal search (e.g. Spotlight) but those improvements feel more incremental than fundamental.

System 6, with a few small tweaks (I liked MultiFinder, but it could have been done better), is pretty much an ideal desktop interface aimed at work. The problem is that modern interfaces are there for people who either aren't working or who aren't paying attention enough to notice consistency (indeed, they can be confused by it). I witnessed today for the first time someone search the web from the Windows Start menu search box; I think most people have no understanding that what they're using is an actual, underlying system, but is instead presented from the internet. They want to type in a word, click on the first answer, and move on. Well-made interfaces get in the way of that.

Re: System.css: A design system for building retro Apple interfaces

#32
post #9

When I look at this I can’t help thinking that desktop UX reached its peak (or plateau?) three decades ago. What improvements have there been since System 6? Perhaps multiple desktops, tabs, and universal search (e.g. Spotlight) but those improvements feel more incremental than fundamental.

Specifically on the Mac?

Tasteful color UI elements (System 7). Unicode support. Multitouch trackpad gestures for window/app management. Dragging data and files between applications (System 7 Pro, IIRC). The ability to run more than one application at once (MultiFinder, but really only standard in System 7). Not having to manually allocate the amount of RAM an app should use (Mac OS X). The zoom box actually being useful (System 7). Being able to move (some) modal dialogs (System 7). Finder being able to do more than one file operation simultaneously (Mac OS 8). Window minimization (Mac OS 8). Menus that don't require you to keep holding the mouse button down (Mac OS 8).

Countless others, really -- System 6 is a very different UX. There's likely some element of modernity you'd actually miss.

Re: System.css: A design system for building retro Apple interfaces

#37

Lots of inconsistencies. What browser was this developed against? Here's an incorrectly centered checkbox, in three different ways, in Safari, Firefox, and Chrome: https://imgur.com/a/bSziuRd

I really hope the answer is Netscape.

Re: System.css: A design system for building retro Apple interfaces

#38
post #4

I collect these novelty CSS things for fun! here https://github.com/sw-yx/spark-joy/blob/master/README.md#fun... - [NES.css]( https://github.com/nostalgic-css/NES.css ): NES.css is a NES-style(8bit-like) CSS Framework. - [PSone.css]( https://github.com/micah5/PSone.css ): PS1 style CSS Framework, inspired by NES.css. - [LaTeX.css]( https://latex.now.sh/ ) - Operating System CSS - [98.css](https://github.com/jdan/98.c…

I love this so much, thank you.

Re: System.css: A design system for building retro Apple interfaces

#39
post #4

I collect these novelty CSS things for fun! here https://github.com/sw-yx/spark-joy/blob/master/README.md#fun... - [NES.css]( https://github.com/nostalgic-css/NES.css ): NES.css is a NES-style(8bit-like) CSS Framework. - [PSone.css]( https://github.com/micah5/PSone.css ): PS1 style CSS Framework, inspired by NES.css. - [LaTeX.css]( https://latex.now.sh/ ) - Operating System CSS - [98.css](https://github.com/jdan/98.c…

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  Prefixing a line with two spaces does this.
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