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> windows XP classic style (not the blue, silver or green one) So, like, the Windows 95 / Windows 98 / Windows NT / etc type of look, or? It’s been so many ye

> windows XP classic style (not the blue, silver or green one) So, like, the Windows 95 / Windows 98 / Windows NT / etc type of look, or? It’s been so many years since I used Windows XP, so I no longer quite remember what it was like exactly. I do have fond memories of using it though :)

zeta0134 7y ago
Yes, the "Classic" style in XP looks somewhat closer to Windows 98, or the original Windows NT builds. Weirdly, there's a Wikipedia article which covers the available themes, and it has good examples of each: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP_visual_styles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP_visual_styles Personally I liked most of these visual themes, but that may be biased by how snappy and responsive the UI felt compared to later entries, especially Vista, which introduces the translucent windows thing that Microsoft has kept moving forward. I know my GPU can do those effects in its sleep now, but when it first launched it was painfully slow on normal-people computers lacking the requisite graphics acceleration. That combined with Vista's initially poor Superfetch implementation (constant hard drive activity and weird pauses) and the whole modern themes thing just left a bad taste. Ignoring Windows specific things, I'm personally fond of a UI that is easy to scan, tells me what I need to know, and gets out of the way. Electron apps that do this well don't bother me, I don't need the whole OS to agree, but I do wish that application designers choosing to ignore the system themes would at least implement a dark theme.
- lightedman 7y ago
  "especially Vista, which introduces the translucent windows thing that Microsoft has kept moving forward." Alpha Blending was present since Windows 2000. You had to enable it but it was there.
  - beagle3 7y ago
    But aero wasn't; I think "the translucent windows thing" is aero.
    - lightedman 7y ago
      Translucent Windows were a thing in Windows 2000. You enabled Alpha Blending in GUI. It was also present in Windows ME.
johnchristopher 7y ago
> So, like, the Windows 95 / Windows 98 / Windows NT / etc type of look, or? Yes, that style.
dvtrn 7y ago
Poor Windows 2000 always getting left out ;)
- agumonkey 7y ago
  Not to me, nt5 is my favorite microsoft product (excel close 2nd)... I ran the beta (offered in a pc magazine) for years without the slightest crash and only upgraded to xp just to avoid slipstreaming drivers in the install image.
zozbot234 7y ago
The "redmond classic" style would look a bit unnatural today given how common high-DPI displays have become; you'd have to thicken the pixel-perfect visual elements quite a bit to even make it look acceptable in such conditions. In general, I find that any simple theme with clearly-visible 3D styling is good enough, and Adwaita (though maybe a bit too flashy for my preference) gives us that - with the extra bonus of being touchscreen-ready by default, which is also quite a big deal these days.
- swiley 7y ago
  Or just ignore the pixel density. Personally I quite like the way apps like GVim looked on high DPI displays before they were “fixed.”
MaxBarraclough 7y ago
Incidentally the lesser-known Fox Toolkit is hard-coded to use this look. The toolkit sees roughly zero adoption these days, but it's awfully fast on antique machines. http://fox-toolkit.org/screenshots.html http://fox-toolkit.org/screenshots.html

zeta0134 7y ago

Yes, the "Classic" style in XP looks somewhat closer to Windows 98, or the original Windows NT builds. Weirdly, there's a Wikipedia article which covers the available themes, and it has good examples of each: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP_visual_styles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP_visual_styles Personally I liked most of these visual themes, but that may be biased by how snappy and responsive the UI felt compared to later entries, especially Vista, which introduces the translucent windows thing that Microsoft has kept moving forward. I know my GPU can do those effects in its sleep now, but when it first launched it was painfully slow on normal-people computers lacking the requisite graphics acceleration. That combined with Vista's initially poor Superfetch implementation (constant hard drive activity and weird pauses) and the whole modern themes thing just left a bad taste. Ignoring Windows specific things, I'm personally fond of a UI that is easy to scan, tells me what I need to know, and gets out of the way. Electron apps that do this well don't bother me, I don't need the whole OS to agree, but I do wish that application designers choosing to ignore the system themes would at least implement a dark theme.

lightedman 7y ago
"especially Vista, which introduces the translucent windows thing that Microsoft has kept moving forward." Alpha Blending was present since Windows 2000. You had to enable it but it was there.
- beagle3 7y ago
  But aero wasn't; I think "the translucent windows thing" is aero.
  - lightedman 7y ago
    Translucent Windows were a thing in Windows 2000. You enabled Alpha Blending in GUI. It was also present in Windows ME.

johnchristopher 7y ago

> So, like, the Windows 95 / Windows 98 / Windows NT / etc type of look, or? Yes, that style.

dvtrn 7y ago

Poor Windows 2000 always getting left out ;)

agumonkey 7y ago
Not to me, nt5 is my favorite microsoft product (excel close 2nd)... I ran the beta (offered in a pc magazine) for years without the slightest crash and only upgraded to xp just to avoid slipstreaming drivers in the install image.

zozbot234 7y ago

The "redmond classic" style would look a bit unnatural today given how common high-DPI displays have become; you'd have to thicken the pixel-perfect visual elements quite a bit to even make it look acceptable in such conditions. In general, I find that any simple theme with clearly-visible 3D styling is good enough, and Adwaita (though maybe a bit too flashy for my preference) gives us that - with the extra bonus of being touchscreen-ready by default, which is also quite a big deal these days.

swiley 7y ago
Or just ignore the pixel density. Personally I quite like the way apps like GVim looked on high DPI displays before they were “fixed.”

MaxBarraclough 7y ago

Incidentally the lesser-known Fox Toolkit is hard-coded to use this look. The toolkit sees roughly zero adoption these days, but it's awfully fast on antique machines. http://fox-toolkit.org/screenshots.html http://fox-toolkit.org/screenshots.html