Annie D

@ann-arcana

Queen of Burgers 🍔

she/her
www.redpanda.fun/

Writer, game designer, engineer, bisexual tranthing, FFXIV addict

OC: Anna Verde - Primal/Excalibur, Empyreum W12 P14

Mare: E6M76HDMVU
. . .

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Annie D @ann-arcana1/13/2023, 4:17 PM

~ ＭＡＣＩＮＴＯＳＨＭＩＮＵＳ ~@QuestForTori

Viz @invis1/13/2023, 5:57 AM

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Annie D @ann-arcana1/13/2023, 4:17 PM

Classic Mac OS rules

I adore the Mac OS 8 platinum theme deep down in my soul.

But I must also give a shout out to 7/8 because between Appearance Manager and Kaleidoscope, it could also look like any goddamn thing you wanted while still being more or less consistent UI-wise.

You can't do this shit on Windows without replacing the entire system shell and possibly having to give money to an abusive GamerGater. Miss me with that Stardock shit and gimme the sweet sweet @macthemes.

Interesting historical note about Appearance Manager though: Steve Jobs personally intervened to cancel it and have it removed after 8.5, and OS X is deliberately not theme capable at all. Apple was super fucking weird about Aqua and seemed convinced it was the real selling point for OSX and went out of their way to go after themes that used it for Classic or other OSes.

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in reply to @invis's post:

Lapis the Nevrean @lapisnev1/13/2023, 6:16 AM

Do we really need to change the design language for high DPI tho? It feels like we've gone hard into flat design through the last decade, and the je ne sais quoi we all keep pointing to in mid-2000s UI design is just skeuomorphism. We can try it again and see what happens.

nora @noracodes1/13/2023, 6:19 AM

With kde and a little themeing, I've done a pretty good job getting this kind of aesthetic on my work computer :)

~ ＭＡＣＩＮＴＯＳＨＭＩＮＵＳ ~@QuestForTori1/13/2023, 6:25 AM

god, I just love the inviting use of texture and color inside simple rectangular panes, combined with the zen-like intentionality to window management in this era before it was standardized and optimized such that there's only one intended way to visually use a n OS

I miss when UX design trends didn't baby the user with over-simplified rounded shapes, or alternatively assaulting your eyes with ads at every opportunity.

Fluffies🐾 & ☉∇ ΘΔ Ⓥ @Fluffies1/13/2023, 6:29 AM

Heck. We were so confused why BeOS had a Windows taskbar on the top of its screen and why Windows had a Mac taskbar on the top too.

Also, we really really love Haiku as a project simply because of its aesthetics. They are cozy.

https://www.haiku-os.org/get-haiku/r1beta4/release-notes/

Val Packett @valpackett1/13/2023, 7:12 AM

I think there's a charm to all the aesthetics throughout the years tbh ^_^

@Janet1/13/2023, 8:54 AM

it's almost like in a museum in here, with everyone appreciating the UI design of yore, i dig it

~@modulusshift1/13/2023, 2:14 PM

And the little sound effects! Y2K computers are creatures, chirping while you scroll or resize, clicking when you click buttons, etc.

sirocyl @sirocyl5/5/2023, 8:50 AM

yeeeees :D I do miss when you got solid feedback when you moused around on a desktop. Even the horrendous Windows 98 IE nav "click" sound, was more Something than anything is today.

Super Mario Bros. Movie (1993) apologist @outrider1/14/2023, 1:48 PM

MacOS 7.x/8.x was peak operating system in general tbh. Easy enough that even my then totally tech illiterate parents could use it but also customisable and extendable as hell

Daniel Gibson @danielg1/14/2023, 3:17 PM

Understandably, with high DPI screens these days, we need to go in a different direction.

Do we? Why wouldn't upscaled high-resolution versions of the old UIs work? Which parts could work?

Honest question, I'm frequently annoyed by modern UI but I don't really know anything about UI design.. or any kind of design TBH, so I wonder if there's good reasons for it, so far I always assumed that UIs are the way they are now because people who decide such things think it looks more modern or something.

kyle @-pegasus1/15/2023, 3:27 PM

I think that we don't. The only effect high dpi has is that vectors should be used instead of bitmaps. There's no need to change anything in terms of style.

Daniel Gibson @danielg1/15/2023, 6:02 PM

That would be my assumption as well (though probably high-res bitmaps would also work).

But I don't know, maybe the old styles don't look/work well at higher resolutions or something?

kyle @-pegasus1/15/2023, 8:11 PM

If anything they would work better.

sirocyl @sirocyl5/5/2023, 8:55 AM

Rather than vectors, I'd use bitmaps with vector-like scaling hints/rule layers applied when scaled. Like, "round this off when scaled", "this is a diagonal corner, flatten it when scaled", "use the scale2x or xBRZ algo on this square of pixels", so on.

kyle @-pegasus5/9/2023, 7:43 AM

Maybe I wouldn't even do that. A square made of four pixels looks the same shape as a square made of one pixels.

i demand chunky icons

@tumult1/15/2023, 9:49 PM

I think it works OK at high res. Here's my unfinished Mac OS Platinum (8 and 9) style in vectors, rendered at 3x: https://cancel.fm/stuff/share/Designer_xvma9xSr7o.png https://cancel.fm/stuff/share/Designer_MaWAjLfHvM.png

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