A bit of both. The color palette was limited. 216 web-safe colors, 256 if you didn't mind the user's open programs changing how it looked. Colors displayed di

A bit of both. The color palette was limited. 216 web-safe colors, 256 if you didn't mind the user's open programs changing how it looked. Colors displayed differently on different monitors, and 'dead' areas of the screen, where colors would be less vibrant, were common. And finally... The web was different, so we tossed all the rules. If you liked it, that's good enough! Why pander to anybody else? This was your own thing.