5 ms·

A Visual History of Windows Icons: From Windows 1 to 11 (2021)

45 points by accrual 2y ago

Uvix 2y ago
Article is from 2021, not 2011.
- accrual 2y ago
  Oops, I must have typo'd the year. Thank you to whomever corrected the title.
bloomingeek 2y ago
When I was first hired, the company was transitioning from Windows 1.x to 3.1. The color icons were pretty cool. We were always behind on OS upgrades. When I retired in 2023, we still had some machines using XP on the intranet.
- accrual 2y ago
  That's pretty wild. I wonder how many shops or intranets are still running on old NT versions for domain controllers and such. One of my workplaces had a couple Windows 2000 boxes running special medical software circa 2010 and we'd VNC in periodically to restart the services, but otherwise they just kept going and going.
skerit 2y ago
When will flat design die? It can't happen soon enough.
- Dalewyn 2y ago
  It boggles the mind that we get ever better displays capable of rendering billions or even trillions of colors in ever finer detail, and we use them to render black and white hieroglyphs noone understands.
  - DaiPlusPlus 2y ago
    > and we use them to render black and white hieroglyphs noone understands. Not a fan of ISO 7000 then?
- accrual 2y ago
  I've been waiting for neumorphism to take off but it never has. I felt like it was a nice blend of the clean/modern look we have from today's flat designs, but with better ergonomics and shading to help distinguish elements from the background - which flat design struggles with. I view it as a clean version of skeumorphism. https://www.justinmind.com/ui-design/neumorphism https://www.justinmind.com/ui-design/neumorphism
  - eviks 2y ago
    Great idea indeed, also hoped the niche for its application could be bigger...
yincrash 2y ago
If you have an inkling to experience old Windows UI in a casual game - Progressbar95[1] is one way to experience all the iconography. [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spookyhousestudios.progressbar95 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spookyhous...
dylan604 2y ago
I really like the Windows 8 actually being present in the timeline. Just a nice reminder of the time Windows lost its damn mind.
tiffanyh 2y ago
Windows 2000 For those, like me, who thought the pinnacle of Microsoft UI design was Windows 2000. Below are some nostalgia screenshots. https://www.howtogeek.com/676095/remembering-windows-2000-microsofts-forgotten-masterpiece/ https://www.howtogeek.com/676095/remembering-windows-2000-mi...
- hoistbypetard 2y ago
  That site mistakes my tracking blocker for an ad blocker, and refuses to show me the article. Here's an archive that doesn't do that: https://archive.ph/sPry1 https://archive.ph/sPry1
  - accrual 2y ago
    Interesting, I have uBlock + NoScript + Pihole and it didn't bother me. Thanks for sharing the alternate link.
    - hoistbypetard 2y ago
      I'm using Safari on Mac this AM. I think my safari is pretty vanilla except for the DuckDuckGo extension, which I believe I have mostly configured to report but not block things.
- accrual 2y ago
  I agree, I adore the Windows 2000 icon design. My retro PC runs XP but I've been slowly changing the icons to Windows 2000. Best of both worlds IMO - the classic design of 2000 but the updated kernel and runtimes of XP. I found a pack containing ALL Windows 2000 icons on Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/icons_win2k_sp4_en https://archive.org/details/icons_win2k_sp4_en
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
hoistbypetard 2y ago
That site detects my tracking blocker as an ad blocker and doesn't allow me to view it. Here's an archive that doesn't do that: https://archive.ph/5Ly8V https://archive.ph/5Ly8V
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
mike_hearn 2y ago
One of the things that occurred to me lately about icons is that they don't scale. I don't mean in terms of resolution, I mean that demand for software hugely outstrips the supply of icon artists. One of the ways we've hacked around this is by using web apps for things. On the web, icons aren't mandatory. Apps aren't started using icons but rather by selecting a bookmark or navigating using search/links. If an icon is supplied it's probably a tiny 16x16 icon of the type that's easy to make. There are no standard art styles and the low resolution means it's not critical to have one anyway. If you imagine that before writing any HTML file you needed to supply a beautiful hi-res icon for it, well, there'd probably be either fewer web pages or way more people using stock icons that aren't really appropriate. But the non-icon oriented UX of browsers means it's not necessary.
beretguy 2y ago
While we are at it i have a question: can somebody recommend non-flat icons sets to use in websites?
antisthenes 2y ago
You can see a very clear regression in Windows 10 and later. Most icons now look like blue-ish non-descript squares now, with no unique visual identifier for the purpose, leading to increased friction and search time for clicking.

45 points by accrual 2y ago

Uvix 2y ago

Article is from 2021, not 2011.

accrual 2y ago
Oops, I must have typo'd the year. Thank you to whomever corrected the title.

bloomingeek 2y ago

When I was first hired, the company was transitioning from Windows 1.x to 3.1. The color icons were pretty cool. We were always behind on OS upgrades. When I retired in 2023, we still had some machines using XP on the intranet.

accrual 2y ago
That's pretty wild. I wonder how many shops or intranets are still running on old NT versions for domain controllers and such. One of my workplaces had a couple Windows 2000 boxes running special medical software circa 2010 and we'd VNC in periodically to restart the services, but otherwise they just kept going and going.

skerit 2y ago

When will flat design die? It can't happen soon enough.

Dalewyn 2y ago
It boggles the mind that we get ever better displays capable of rendering billions or even trillions of colors in ever finer detail, and we use them to render black and white hieroglyphs noone understands.
- DaiPlusPlus 2y ago
  > and we use them to render black and white hieroglyphs noone understands. Not a fan of ISO 7000 then?
accrual 2y ago
I've been waiting for neumorphism to take off but it never has. I felt like it was a nice blend of the clean/modern look we have from today's flat designs, but with better ergonomics and shading to help distinguish elements from the background - which flat design struggles with. I view it as a clean version of skeumorphism. https://www.justinmind.com/ui-design/neumorphism https://www.justinmind.com/ui-design/neumorphism
- eviks 2y ago
  Great idea indeed, also hoped the niche for its application could be bigger...

yincrash 2y ago

If you have an inkling to experience old Windows UI in a casual game - Progressbar95[1] is one way to experience all the iconography. [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spookyhousestudios.progressbar95 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spookyhous...

dylan604 2y ago

I really like the Windows 8 actually being present in the timeline. Just a nice reminder of the time Windows lost its damn mind.

tiffanyh 2y ago

Windows 2000 For those, like me, who thought the pinnacle of Microsoft UI design was Windows 2000. Below are some nostalgia screenshots. https://www.howtogeek.com/676095/remembering-windows-2000-microsofts-forgotten-masterpiece/ https://www.howtogeek.com/676095/remembering-windows-2000-mi...

hoistbypetard 2y ago
That site mistakes my tracking blocker for an ad blocker, and refuses to show me the article. Here's an archive that doesn't do that: https://archive.ph/sPry1 https://archive.ph/sPry1
- accrual 2y ago
  Interesting, I have uBlock + NoScript + Pihole and it didn't bother me. Thanks for sharing the alternate link.
  - hoistbypetard 2y ago
    I'm using Safari on Mac this AM. I think my safari is pretty vanilla except for the DuckDuckGo extension, which I believe I have mostly configured to report but not block things.
accrual 2y ago
I agree, I adore the Windows 2000 icon design. My retro PC runs XP but I've been slowly changing the icons to Windows 2000. Best of both worlds IMO - the classic design of 2000 but the updated kernel and runtimes of XP. I found a pack containing ALL Windows 2000 icons on Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/icons_win2k_sp4_en https://archive.org/details/icons_win2k_sp4_en

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

hoistbypetard 2y ago

That site detects my tracking blocker as an ad blocker and doesn't allow me to view it. Here's an archive that doesn't do that: https://archive.ph/5Ly8V https://archive.ph/5Ly8V

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

mike_hearn 2y ago

One of the things that occurred to me lately about icons is that they don't scale. I don't mean in terms of resolution, I mean that demand for software hugely outstrips the supply of icon artists. One of the ways we've hacked around this is by using web apps for things. On the web, icons aren't mandatory. Apps aren't started using icons but rather by selecting a bookmark or navigating using search/links. If an icon is supplied it's probably a tiny 16x16 icon of the type that's easy to make. There are no standard art styles and the low resolution means it's not critical to have one anyway. If you imagine that before writing any HTML file you needed to supply a beautiful hi-res icon for it, well, there'd probably be either fewer web pages or way more people using stock icons that aren't really appropriate. But the non-icon oriented UX of browsers means it's not necessary.

beretguy 2y ago

While we are at it i have a question: can somebody recommend non-flat icons sets to use in websites?

antisthenes 2y ago

You can see a very clear regression in Windows 10 and later. Most icons now look like blue-ish non-descript squares now, with no unique visual identifier for the purpose, leading to increased friction and search time for clicking.