A fully functional pixel-perfect Windows 95 application in Electron (opens in new tab)

(mapzen.com)

45 pointssaikofish8y ago21 comments

21 comments

The sad thing about this joke is I kinda miss this UI ...

tobr8y ago

I wonder if might see UI fashion go full circle and come back to this style at some point. The flat style of the past 5 years came in reaction to the over-rendered skeuomorphic look that had been growing out of control. But I feel like when I look back at what Windows and Mac OS looked like in the 90s, it almost feels fresh again. It doesn't attempt to look like a photo, it just uses very a simplified, graphical style of light and shadow to hint at affordances and visual hierarchy.

frik8y ago

I miss it too. I kept iOS6 on one of my iPads and stay with Win7 (instead of the ugly as butt newer editions).

Win9x classic theme, XP's Luna theme, Vista/Win7 glass theme, iOS 1-6 theme were all so nice. I can also live with iOS7+ theme and actually quite like Android 5+ material theme.

Older UI themes were often done by real experts. XP's Luna theme was done by Frog Design.

Some newer designs seems like be done as an afterthought, "designed" by an color blind programmer.

jankotek8y ago

I miss the speed and features. 15 years ago email or IRC applications (The Bat, mIRC) started in milliseconds, and had tons of features.

Today webapps take forever to start and are severely limited.

TomMarius8y ago

Exactly. I feel really sad that my computer from 10 years ago with Pentium3, 256 MB of RAM and a 40 GB HDD felt faster than my current i7-7770 with 64 GB of RAM and a SSD.

mabynogy8y ago

The copy.sh emulator of Windows 98:

https://copy.sh/v86/?profile=windows98

weatherpattern8y ago

I miss it too. When XP launched I used classic mode for years.

Ericson23148y ago

At this early hour, I miss high quality desktop apps with low-latency user interfaces. And high density. And a consistent look in all applications.

ashark8y ago

Man I miss UIs using depth. So easy on the eyes.

seibelj8y ago

I'm confused, did they mimic the windows 95 feel with HTML / CSS? Or did they use WINE? Why did they want to make a serious application resemble Windows 95?

Ericson23148y ago

april1.js does all this

mstade8y ago

What date was this published? :o)

saikofishOP8y ago

Yup, all done in HTML and CSS!

ff_8y ago

It's April 1st :)

parenthephobia8y ago

It might be worth pointing out that as part of the joke they did actually make the app. You can download it, and it does have a convincing Windows 95 GUI.

soupbowl8y ago

I wonder how well it would perform on windows 95/98/ME.

hootener8y ago

Probably has a thing or two to do with today's date...

jnordwick8y ago

Forgot it is 4/1. Time for my annual day off of social media because of stupid things like this.

morganvachon8y ago

I get tuning out on 4/1, but what's stupid about this? I think it's kind of neat.

derrickdirge8y ago

Some people just don't take kindly to being tricked.

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21 comments

tangue8y ago

The sad thing about this joke is I kinda miss this UI ...

tobr8y ago

frik8y ago

I miss it too. I kept iOS6 on one of my iPads and stay with Win7 (instead of the ugly as butt newer editions).

Win9x classic theme, XP's Luna theme, Vista/Win7 glass theme, iOS 1-6 theme were all so nice. I can also live with iOS7+ theme and actually quite like Android 5+ material theme.

Older UI themes were often done by real experts. XP's Luna theme was done by Frog Design.

Some newer designs seems like be done as an afterthought, "designed" by an color blind programmer.

jankotek8y ago

I miss the speed and features. 15 years ago email or IRC applications (The Bat, mIRC) started in milliseconds, and had tons of features.

Today webapps take forever to start and are severely limited.

TomMarius8y ago

Exactly. I feel really sad that my computer from 10 years ago with Pentium3, 256 MB of RAM and a 40 GB HDD felt faster than my current i7-7770 with 64 GB of RAM and a SSD.

mabynogy8y ago

The copy.sh emulator of Windows 98:

https://copy.sh/v86/?profile=windows98

weatherpattern8y ago

I miss it too. When XP launched I used classic mode for years.

Ericson23148y ago

At this early hour, I miss high quality desktop apps with low-latency user interfaces. And high density. And a consistent look in all applications.

ashark8y ago

Man I miss UIs using depth. So easy on the eyes.

seibelj8y ago

I'm confused, did they mimic the windows 95 feel with HTML / CSS? Or did they use WINE? Why did they want to make a serious application resemble Windows 95?

Ericson23148y ago

april1.js does all this

mstade8y ago

What date was this published? :o)

saikofishOP8y ago

Yup, all done in HTML and CSS!

ff_8y ago

It's April 1st :)

parenthephobia8y ago

It might be worth pointing out that as part of the joke they did actually make the app. You can download it, and it does have a convincing Windows 95 GUI.

soupbowl8y ago

I wonder how well it would perform on windows 95/98/ME.

hootener8y ago

Probably has a thing or two to do with today's date...

jnordwick8y ago

Forgot it is 4/1. Time for my annual day off of social media because of stupid things like this.

morganvachon8y ago

I get tuning out on 4/1, but what's stupid about this? I think it's kind of neat.

derrickdirge8y ago

Some people just don't take kindly to being tricked.

1 more reply

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