3 ms·

Wow. I was expecting the UI to feel dated/retro, but it still looks really good. And the window snapping behavior is still as satisfying as it always was. Timel

Wow. I was expecting the UI to feel dated/retro, but it still looks really good. And the window snapping behavior is still as satisfying as it always was. Timeless?

kossTKR 6y ago
Yes, i was quite surprised too. I can't figure out if i actually like it more or if it's just nostalgia. It's like modern interfaces are way to flat and everything are is just floating in empty space with too much whitespace and not enough texture and depth. Is something very wrong with modern interfaces? Quite interesting..
- BackBlast 6y ago
  Modern interfaces revolve around mobile and touch interfaces. The narrow/small buttons don't work consistently enough in this context and presents many usability and accessibility issues. I look at it and remember those days, and the system was quite usable with a high resolution mouse to be the primary interface. While I can use it on mobile, I would hate to try to do so under any kind of degraded condition. Cold fingers, inclement weather, driving in a card/bus/train.
  - pseudalopex 6y ago
    Touch interfaces don't have to be flat though.
    - e1ghtSpace 6y ago
      E.g. iOS <7
    - BackBlast 6y ago
      No, they don't have to be flat. There are two items that hinder it. One is that winamp has a fixed size, modern layout systems have to support a multitude of screen sizes, which is a hard problem. Throw on some nice 3d texture as a full skin and getting that to work is much more difficult. It's not impossible, but some of the items on the skins would be very hard. The other big one is accessibility. People with poor eyesight can struggle when the system has low contrast. 3d buttons or adding depth to controls and the like are pretty simple and don't have any major impediments that I'm aware of. I often will accent my GUI designs with a light touch of depth. I can't tell you for sure as to the evolution of the systems, I design modern systems and while I did toy with GUIs back in that day I didn't do major systems then - I was a kid. Aesthetics takes a major backseat to usability in my work. Though I'd say that some of today's look and style is much like clothing. It's a style of the day.

Wow. I was expecting the UI to feel dated/retro, but it still looks really good. And the window snapping behavior is still as satisfying as it always was. Timeless?

kossTKR 6y ago

Yes, i was quite surprised too. I can't figure out if i actually like it more or if it's just nostalgia. It's like modern interfaces are way to flat and everything are is just floating in empty space with too much whitespace and not enough texture and depth. Is something very wrong with modern interfaces? Quite interesting..

BackBlast 6y ago
Modern interfaces revolve around mobile and touch interfaces. The narrow/small buttons don't work consistently enough in this context and presents many usability and accessibility issues. I look at it and remember those days, and the system was quite usable with a high resolution mouse to be the primary interface. While I can use it on mobile, I would hate to try to do so under any kind of degraded condition. Cold fingers, inclement weather, driving in a card/bus/train.
- pseudalopex 6y ago
  Touch interfaces don't have to be flat though.
  - e1ghtSpace 6y ago
    E.g. iOS <7
  - BackBlast 6y ago
    No, they don't have to be flat. There are two items that hinder it. One is that winamp has a fixed size, modern layout systems have to support a multitude of screen sizes, which is a hard problem. Throw on some nice 3d texture as a full skin and getting that to work is much more difficult. It's not impossible, but some of the items on the skins would be very hard. The other big one is accessibility. People with poor eyesight can struggle when the system has low contrast. 3d buttons or adding depth to controls and the like are pretty simple and don't have any major impediments that I'm aware of. I often will accent my GUI designs with a light touch of depth. I can't tell you for sure as to the evolution of the systems, I design modern systems and while I did toy with GUIs back in that day I didn't do major systems then - I was a kid. Aesthetics takes a major backseat to usability in my work. Though I'd say that some of today's look and style is much like clothing. It's a style of the day.