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I actually love this, and I bookmarked it. Why? Not just because of nostalgia. Web 1.0 sites had a different set of UI idioms, which seem unintuitive to us, a
by 3cats-in-a-coat 3y ago
I actually love this, and I bookmarked it.
Why? Not just because of nostalgia.
Web 1.0 sites had a different set of UI idioms, which seem unintuitive to us, as we're too set in our new ways now. If you get past the fact they're ugly by modern standards, you'll see these sites accomplishing amazing results through startlingly simple means.
It's an excellent source of inspiration, and if you combine those ideas with modern design, but keep it minimal, I believe there's a lot of potential to create something compelling.
This is the same reason for which I like reviewing old OS GUIs, old apps and even UIs in movies sometimes (but not the modern take which just slaps animated circles and gradients on everything, I mean actual UIs showing something readable/usable).
- JJMcJ 3y agoOnce in a while you hit a really ancient site that is CSS free. Like the original CERN sites. They seem strange but navigation is usually absolutely clear and they are lightening fast.
- warning26 3y agoAnother interesting aspect of these classic sites is that they’re pretty much completely compatible with screen readers with zero additional effort.
- kjkjadksj 3y agoYou can fully use amazon still with javascript disabled. The site even looks nearly the same but it doesn’t spin your laptops fans rendering kindle unlimited ads on the home page.
- s1artibartfast 3y agoI still don't believe modern we design is actually preferred by the masses. Ofen times it isn't even a balance between aesthetics an clarity, because the modern pages are broken or otherwise unusable. It has gotten to the point where I wonder if maybe I'm not neurotypical. I'll take sites formatted like Craigslist 100% of the time. Now I'm just waiting for windows OS to fully replace file navigation text with iconography and I won't be able to use a computer
- Baeocystin 3y agoI think a lot of modern web design suffers from the same AB testing failures that got Pepsi into trouble back in the coke/pepsi days of the 80's. I may be misremembering the details, but the gist was that Pepsi was a bit sweeter, and so in the tiny amounts that people tasted during taste tests, they usually prefer the sweeter drink. In normal use, however, that flavor of Pepsi was too sweet, and sales tanked. I see the same problem with user tests. People almost always pick the simpler of two options, because at the time they have no reason to pick anything else, and that looks easier. But then you start trying to get actual work done, and the Fisher Priced interface is too simplified. And I know it's not just you or me that prefer information dense websites. Look at how well-known McMaster's site is, among people who actually need to use it to get work done. Even in general public terms, things have gone too far. I set up a lot of iPads for elderly folks for use in assistive communication, and I have to go out of my way to use ones that have buttons. The modern ones without a home button are just too complicated for a whole swath of our population, and I am not exaggerating.
- alister 3y ago> But then you start trying to get actual work done, and the Fisher Priced interface is too simplified. That's exactly my thinking as well. To give another example: This week I tried to use an iPad and an Apple Pencil for day-to-day note taking. If you handwrite 100% plain English prose like, The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog, it instantly converts it to text and corrects any typos. For simple stuff, it seems perfect. But it's insufferable once you start on real work. It doesn't understand a lot of punctuation, tries to correct foreign words (likes names and locations) I mix in with English, tries to spell correct serial numbers (N07 becomes NOT). Having to go back and correct each conversion error turned out to be much slower -- and frustrating. I went back to a keyboard.
- mighmi 3y agoOld OS UIs pursued fascinating directions ours didn't keep up with, like Plan9's Acme, a 3-button-mouse-based terminal where any text in a file becomes a button and you can just type directly into toolbars, or the amazing wholesomeness of smalltalk repls. Of course, they aren't quite GUIs - but they had fascinating power.
- anthk 3y ago9 front it's still alive, and if you hate the three button mice setup, you can use shift/ctrl-click to simulate the different clicks for chords. For some users using a keyboard might be easier.
- exodust 3y ago> UIs in movies And those little chirp sounds that go with the movie UIs. More than onKeyPress, they happen on every interface event. Text comes into view? chirp-bleep. Our real interfaces aren't that noisy. I wonder who drives these UI design decisions in movies, the sound people, editors, writers?
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- IIsi50MHz 3y ago"Noisy" UI have been made before. Possibly a few times, though the only one that comes to mind right now is the "Audio Finder" experiment at Apple. It did things like play sounds for drag events or the mouse pointer crossing a window boundary. Reportedly, after the beta test users had to give it up, they missed the feedback.
- tpmoney 3y agoMany years back I played one of the final fantasy PlayStation games on Connectix VirtualStation. There was a bug in the emulation that prevented the cursor for the menus from being drawn on screen. It was surprisingly usable just by audio cues once you got used to it.
- tlogan 3y agoYes - they are quite easy to navigate. All information is there and clearly labeled. While they may not be aesthetically pleasing, it's important to remember that asthetic is all about fashion.
- hutzlibu 3y agoWell, up to a certain point. Some of those flashy gifs on those old sites really hurt my eyes.
- 8n4vidtmkvmk 3y agoThey don't seem unintuitive to me, maybe because I grew up with 1.0. these youngsters are creating buttons without outlines, links that are grey and not underlined, checkboxes that slide and sometimes have no other indication that they're on or off, and many other unholy idioms. Web 1.0 was glorious.
- 3cats-in-a-coat 3y agoTo clarify, by unintuitive I mean we don't think of doing things in a simple way today as we're used to more complicated interaction patterns and layouts. When we open a Web 1.0 it's intuitive to see and browse. In fact, often more intuitive than modern Web. It reminds us... that it's "OK" to keep it simple. And this is a reminder we need frequently in a world of excess.
- 8n4vidtmkvmk 3y agoOh.. well I guess it's just me then :) I always try to use a simple native component before replacing it with something more complex if the old thing genuinely doesn't work for some use cases.