6 ms·

Win95 had very strict and consistent UI style. Office2k and Win2k were peak of this consistency. After that came WinXP and mismatch of inconsistent UI styles.

Someone1234 5y ago
I've had to teach people to use PCs many times, it used to be so much easier for this reason. You'd teach someone that "this icon mean THIS" and that would be that, but today that is impossible because there are five different graphics/ideas for each thing (plus of course iconography used to use analogies from real-life, like a pen for Word, bin for throwing stuff away, folders, etc). Windows 10 never really reached self-consistency in six years, and it seems like Microsoft just doesn't care at this point with Windows 11 now just layering more contradictory concepts on the unfinished Windows 10 ones.
- SubiculumCode 5y ago
  Its to the point where I'd rather have text than icons in the various menus.
  - endgame 5y ago
    Look at old pictures of (say) Netscape Navigator. Despite having far fewer pixels we somehow had enough to label our icons. What went wrong?
    - vb6sp6 5y ago
      Globalization happened English "250 views" = 8 chars wide German "250 mal angesehen" = 17 chars wide English "FAQ" = 3 chars wide Portuguese "Perguntas freqüentes" = 20 characters wide It isn't uncommon for english words to expand 200-300% when translated to other languages. I'd love to see a german, italian, or portuguese version of netscape to see how they fit those labels
      - SubiculumCode 5y ago
        I imagine that abbreviations are common in these languages?
        vb6sp6 5y ago
        It really depends on the phrase. FAQ was just used as an extreme example.
        abakker 5y ago
        I think when I was in 4th grade, using Netscape, I spoke english but didn't know what FAQ meant. I think I probably searched it on Altavista.
        faqfaq 5y ago
        The French made up a translation to fit the acronym. FAQ = “Foire aux questions”, where “foire” is the French word for a fair, a place where you go to see many things (in this case, questions).
      - CmdrKrool 5y ago
        > I'd love to see a german, italian, or portuguese version of netscape to see how they fit those labels https://aware7.de/wp-content/uploads/Netscape_4.png https://aware7.de/wp-content/uploads/Netscape_4.png Doesn't look like a showstopper, at least for the specific toolbar icons that Netscape had.
        GekkePrutser 5y ago
        "Verwandte Objek" seems cut off, it should be "Objekte" but other than that it aligns pretty well. Ps my German is basic so perhaps I'm wrong
        vb6sp6 5y ago
        nice find! There are a few English bits on there: guide, stop, shop. Wonder why
GekkePrutser 5y ago
Yeah what doesn't help is that dialog windows from that era are still in Windows 11 today... Especially around the settings.

Someone1234 5y ago

I've had to teach people to use PCs many times, it used to be so much easier for this reason. You'd teach someone that "this icon mean THIS" and that would be that, but today that is impossible because there are five different graphics/ideas for each thing (plus of course iconography used to use analogies from real-life, like a pen for Word, bin for throwing stuff away, folders, etc). Windows 10 never really reached self-consistency in six years, and it seems like Microsoft just doesn't care at this point with Windows 11 now just layering more contradictory concepts on the unfinished Windows 10 ones.

SubiculumCode 5y ago
Its to the point where I'd rather have text than icons in the various menus.
- endgame 5y ago
  Look at old pictures of (say) Netscape Navigator. Despite having far fewer pixels we somehow had enough to label our icons. What went wrong?
  - vb6sp6 5y ago
    Globalization happened English "250 views" = 8 chars wide German "250 mal angesehen" = 17 chars wide English "FAQ" = 3 chars wide Portuguese "Perguntas freqüentes" = 20 characters wide It isn't uncommon for english words to expand 200-300% when translated to other languages. I'd love to see a german, italian, or portuguese version of netscape to see how they fit those labels
    - SubiculumCode 5y ago
      I imagine that abbreviations are common in these languages?
      - vb6sp6 5y ago
        It really depends on the phrase. FAQ was just used as an extreme example.
        abakker 5y ago
        I think when I was in 4th grade, using Netscape, I spoke english but didn't know what FAQ meant. I think I probably searched it on Altavista.
        faqfaq 5y ago
        The French made up a translation to fit the acronym. FAQ = “Foire aux questions”, where “foire” is the French word for a fair, a place where you go to see many things (in this case, questions).
    - CmdrKrool 5y ago
      > I'd love to see a german, italian, or portuguese version of netscape to see how they fit those labels https://aware7.de/wp-content/uploads/Netscape_4.png https://aware7.de/wp-content/uploads/Netscape_4.png Doesn't look like a showstopper, at least for the specific toolbar icons that Netscape had.
      - GekkePrutser 5y ago
        "Verwandte Objek" seems cut off, it should be "Objekte" but other than that it aligns pretty well. Ps my German is basic so perhaps I'm wrong
      - vb6sp6 5y ago
        nice find! There are a few English bits on there: guide, stop, shop. Wonder why

GekkePrutser 5y ago

Yeah what doesn't help is that dialog windows from that era are still in Windows 11 today... Especially around the settings.