unjokingly I think the fact that we removed grayed out buttons for "the button just doesn't appear" is one of the more confusing UI trends of our day and the sight of a grayed out button warms my heart
I really want to make one of my websites use this.. I just can't think of one that would fit.
Also shout out XFCE-winxp-tc, which makes your Linux look like Windows XP. Lots of people know about Chicago95, but this project is excellent for that 2004 vibe
My gripe has always been that none of these xfce/gtk/etc. themes are ever actually pixel-perfect, even when they claim to be. Not sure if there is a legal concern there or not.
More than legal concerns is that theming engines on each DE can be a bit limiting trying to do such things. i.e. for KDE Plasma you'd need to do a fair amount of SVG trickery to reach 100% accuracy respect of the originals.
Plus the icons thing - they're not as easy as people might think.
But this xfce-winxp-tc seems to be really, really close to the original. In those first two screenshots I thought it was just screenshots of the original WinXP.
Also the CSS framework subject of this thread looks really identical to the widgets and stuff of Win98.
But if you want true 100% pixel-perfect windows 98/xp/whatever... Just use them.
Windows XP and MacOS System 7 had pretty good looking GUIs. Since then, modern keyboard-and-mouse UIs have not really improved that much; it's mostly been just evolving and polishing styling. All the real innovation has been on touchscreen devices.
Unlike other comments this one is actually a css framework except that it's too cute. If you had ~textual theme for a css framework that could probably work for lots of practical use.
Thanks. It's not a bootstrap theme, it's a proper fork that maintains compatibility.
It's extremely grueling to do. We're talking hundreds of hours.
I question how much AI can really help here since it's a matter of careful pixel alignment, image capabilities probably beyond what models can do and taste
I'm down if I can figure out an attack plan. It just feels like wheel spinning. I might have to do this manually still
Funny how nostalgia differs for different people. I hated all that so much at the time that I installed linux (RH 7.x) from a magazine cd and learned to program in C & perl.
That multirows tab UI thing was an utter abomination against usability, intelligence, good sense, decency, justice and obviously any and all aesthetics. Why bring it back? To fix it maybe?
Author here! This was my burnout recovery project and holds a place near and dear to my heart. https://notes.jordanscales.com/98-css-reflections
Great project. Thanks for making it! Brings back memories
unjokingly I think the fact that we removed grayed out buttons for "the button just doesn't appear" is one of the more confusing UI trends of our day and the sight of a grayed out button warms my heart
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last time this came up people appreciated my collection
https://alexbsoft.github.io/win95.css/ windows 95
https://bootstra386.com/ 1980's websites
https://botoxparty.github.io/XP.css/ windows xp
https://code.divshot.com/geo-bootstrap/ geocities
https://cs16.samke.me/ counter strike 1.6
https://edwardtufte.github.io/tufte-css/ edward tufte
https://jdan.github.io/98.css/ windows 98
https://khang-nd.github.io/7.css/ windows 7
https://micah5.github.io/PSone.css/ playstation one
https://nostalgic-css.github.io/NES.css/ nes
https://sakofchit.github.io/system.css/ apple system
https://snes-css.sadlative.com/ snes
https://thesimscss.inbn.dev/ the sims
Geocities is broken otherwise thanks!
see you again in 2028
Very authentic almost down to the pixel. I love it!
Btw default buttons like OK should have a thick black outline.
Also windows UIs loved group boxes and radio buttons and checkboxes. I notice those are missing.
Also it seems that the dropdown is missing.
I really want to make one of my websites use this.. I just can't think of one that would fit.
Also shout out XFCE-winxp-tc, which makes your Linux look like Windows XP. Lots of people know about Chicago95, but this project is excellent for that 2004 vibe
[0] https://github.com/rozniak/xfce-winxp-tc
man, it's the internet. you don't need a fit. you just need to want to.
My gripe has always been that none of these xfce/gtk/etc. themes are ever actually pixel-perfect, even when they claim to be. Not sure if there is a legal concern there or not.
More than legal concerns is that theming engines on each DE can be a bit limiting trying to do such things. i.e. for KDE Plasma you'd need to do a fair amount of SVG trickery to reach 100% accuracy respect of the originals.
Plus the icons thing - they're not as easy as people might think.
But this xfce-winxp-tc seems to be really, really close to the original. In those first two screenshots I thought it was just screenshots of the original WinXP.
Also the CSS framework subject of this thread looks really identical to the widgets and stuff of Win98.
But if you want true 100% pixel-perfect windows 98/xp/whatever... Just use them.
Nitpick: tabs in the multirow tabs example do not change position randomly as they should when clicked
Windows XP and MacOS System 7 had pretty good looking GUIs. Since then, modern keyboard-and-mouse UIs have not really improved that much; it's mostly been just evolving and polishing styling. All the real innovation has been on touchscreen devices.
Impressie that this is pure CSS with no JavaScript. The border and box-shadow tricks to recreate the beveled Win98 look are really well done!
Folks, can we have a css framework for TUIs please?
Textual? https://textual.textualize.io/
something like this? https://kristopolous.github.io/BOOTSTRA.386/v2.3.1/
Unlike other comments this one is actually a css framework except that it's too cute. If you had ~textual theme for a css framework that could probably work for lots of practical use.
lipgloss is pretty close: https://github.com/charmbracelet/lipgloss
The blue gradients on the titlebars are actually very pleasing.
https://github.com/lolstring/window98-html-css-js
https://github.com/anthmn/hackertosh.css
https://github.com/AlexBSoft/win95.css
https://github.com/1j01/os-gui
https://github.com/themesberg/windows-95-ui-kit
https://github.com/andersevenrud/retro-css-shell-demo
https://github.com/arturbien/React95
https://github.com/botoxparty/XP.css
https://github.com/Gioni06/terminal.css
https://github.com/jdan/98.css
https://github.com/jianzhongli/csswin10
https://github.com/khang-nd/7.css
https://github.com/kristopolous/BOOTSTRA.386
https://github.com/lachsfilet/Renkbench
https://github.com/lolstring/window98-html-css-js
https://github.com/micah5/PSone.css
https://github.com/nostalgic-css/NES.css
https://github.com/npjg/classic.css
https://github.com/robbiebyrd/platinum
https://github.com/bryanbraun/after-dark-css
https://github.com/npjg/new-dawn
https://github.com/ritenv/retro-desktop
https://github.com/RoelN/c64css3
https://github.com/sakofchit/system.css
https://github.com/vinibiavatti1/TuiCss
https://code.divshot.com/geo-bootstrap/
https://cs16.samke.me/
https://edwardtufte.github.io/tufte-css/
https://thesimscss.inbn.dev/
https://snes-css.sadlative.com/
https://css.ds.dreamyard.xyz/
https://irv77.github.io/Xbox360UI/
Hey I'm there. Thanks
I love your design! I used it in a prototype BBS game playable on the web :)
Thanks. It's not a bootstrap theme, it's a proper fork that maintains compatibility.
It's extremely grueling to do. We're talking hundreds of hours.
I question how much AI can really help here since it's a matter of careful pixel alignment, image capabilities probably beyond what models can do and taste
I'm down if I can figure out an attack plan. It just feels like wheel spinning. I might have to do this manually still
Thank you for the library. I was about to ask after 2 of these design spaces.
The HTML formatting behind the ‘Show Code’ triggered some PTSD when it appeared
huh? it's clean basic HTML, for all the ones I checked...
Seeing this makes me unreasonably happy. Funny how nostalgia is
Funny how nostalgia differs for different people. I hated all that so much at the time that I installed linux (RH 7.x) from a magazine cd and learned to program in C & perl.
That multirows tab UI thing was an utter abomination against usability, intelligence, good sense, decency, justice and obviously any and all aesthetics. Why bring it back? To fix it maybe?
The link points to the status bar. Was that intentional?