[HN Gopher] Websites that look like desktop GUIs
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Websites that look like desktop GUIs
Author : fanf2
Score : 354 points
Date : 2020-07-04 18:43 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (simone.computer)
(TXT) w3m dump (simone.computer)
| faebi wrote:
| It's a lot worse when you have to use corporate software who
| implements a windows manager inside a browser window.
| iso8859-1 wrote:
| Could it be Ext.js?
| https://examples.sencha.com/extjs/7.2.0/examples/classic/des...
| Anon4Now wrote:
| Reminds me of an app I saw in the late 90's developed with
| Delphi. I never used Delphi, but apparently it had the ability to
| compile an app to an ActiveX plug-in and run a full desktop-like
| application in Internet Explorer. Of course, ActiveX had major
| security problems, but the UX was amazing.
| noir_lord wrote:
| I was a heavy Delphi user back in the day (late-90's/early
| 2000's) it was way ahead of the curve in terms of RAD that
| didn't gimp you as a developer.
|
| Shame they decided to go for the large enterprise insanely
| expensive end of the market, if they'd done a decent commercial
| version for a 10th the price they'd have done much better.
|
| Though the writing was on the wall as the cost of development
| tools trended towards zero - JetBrains have continued to prove
| that if you provide enough utility competing against free can
| be profitable.
| paultopia wrote:
| I tried to make my personal website[1] look like an old PalmPilot
| --- but the look didn't completely translate, especially on the
| desktop. Alas.
|
| [1] https://gowder.io
| rahimnathwani wrote:
| I love this. It reminds me of riding the London Underground,
| reading Wired articles in the AvantGo app on my Palm V.
| paultopia wrote:
| Thanks! That brought a huge smile to my face. I was a total
| Palm nerd back in the late 90's; I remember buying a gigantic
| clip-on cellular modem for one to get email on it.
| ggcdn wrote:
| Ha, well done. I really enjoyed Ash Kyd's site.
|
| https://ash.ms/
| iso8859-1 wrote:
| He released the UI library for it:
| https://github.com/AshKyd/ui95
| TheSpiceIsLife wrote:
| That's fun!
|
| It'd be cool if it randomly BSOD'ed.
| duncan-donuts wrote:
| That'd be a good 500 page!
| kilroy123 wrote:
| I agree. I wonder how long it took him to build that?
| syx wrote:
| Ash Kyd did an amazing job with the design, also one my
| personal favorite to this day remains Mariano Pascual[1]
|
| [1] http://www.marianopascual.me
| Moxdi wrote:
| i need a distro that looks like this
| bitwize wrote:
| fvwm95 is still a thing.
| iso8859-1 wrote:
| No, it is abandoned. But there are some bugfixes at
| https://flaterco.com/util/index.html
| iso8859-1 wrote:
| https://github.com/grassmunk/Chicago95
| tarsinge wrote:
| Nice to see Poolside FM with some Classic MacOS vibe instead of
| the common Win9x variations.
| devadvance wrote:
| Interesting collection. Between the veritable homages (AV
| notification included) [0] and reinterpretations for various
| purposes (e.g., music player [1]), it's a fun mix!
|
| It also reminded me of the Nielsen Norman article exploring flat
| design and comparing it to three-dimensional design [2]. While
| it's becoming less and less possible, it would be interesting to
| compare the experience across different UX patterns for first-
| time computer users. It seems hard to separate familiarity and
| nostalgia from truly superior UX. [0]
| https://winxp.now.sh [1] https://poolside.fm [2]
| https://www.nngroup.com/articles/flat-design/
| coding123 wrote:
| I'm curious about the tech in some of these. Probably a mix of
| straight up HTML reinterpretation, probably some web assembly,
| feels like at least one or two are running a full win9x dist in
| either docker or something...
| rajbiswas125 wrote:
| This is the coolest thing I have found on HN even
| jccooper wrote:
| So which of these has a good framework I can use for making a
| (fairly acurate-ish) fake desktop? I've looked at quite a few in
| the past, and haven't seen a good option yet.
| app4soft wrote:
| > _You 're currently viewing the No-JavaScript version of the
| site, what a boring life you must live!_
|
| Just has a simple rule: open any unknown website with JavaScript
| disabled. Permanently.
| sbmthakur wrote:
| Many webdevs have used systems like those for their development
| work. Today, the web can nicely represent them right in the
| browser. This makes it quite easy for the new generations of devs
| to take a feel of those systems. Feels like the Web is giving
| something back. Thanks for sharing!
| livre wrote:
| I found an interesting Easter egg on that website. Hide the
| window using the up triangle and touch or click the face of the
| agent.
| syx wrote:
| try pressing CTRL+C :)
| livre wrote:
| Nice one, a Linux Botnet edition. I can't see it very well
| because I'm using a phone, I'll try it again later on a
| computer.
| atum47 wrote:
| hey, thank you for adding me to your list.
|
| made me happy =)
| MeanSpirit wrote:
| https://webamp.org/ this really took me back! Even the equalizer
| works, and the magnetic window stickiness!
| Etheryte wrote:
| The visualizers in this are really slick, I wonder if they're
| built from scratch or borrowed from somewhere.
| captbaritone wrote:
| The visualizer comes from
| https://github.com/jberg/butterchurn glad you like it!
| zingplex wrote:
| Looks like they're borrowed.
|
| https://github.com/jberg/butterchurn
| Crash0v3rid3 wrote:
| I really miss Winamp!
| dilandau wrote:
| Audacious. It's compatible with the skins, even.
| JoshGlazebrook wrote:
| Man I had so many custom skins for Winamp. It really was a
| different time back then.
| pwdisswordfish2 wrote:
| That last sentence took an unexpected turn.
| captbaritone wrote:
| Glad you like it! The code's all on GitHub if you want to take
| a look: https://github.com/captbaritone/webamp
| xellisx wrote:
| https://github.com/kristopolous/BOOTSTRA.386
| kristopolous wrote:
| Thanks. My most recent one took quite a long time. I'm going to
| be distributing floppy disks with it soon as a fundraiser
| dmix wrote:
| This one put some serious effort into it with a drum machine,
| game, meme creator, pdf viewer', etc. Mostly just as a resume for
| the creator:
|
| http://eeerik.com/
| nicoburns wrote:
| http://www.therestartpage.com/ full screened would make a good
| prank. The Windows XP startup sound invoked a surprisingly strong
| reaction from me.
| robomartin wrote:
| It's neat to see themes reminiscent of Irix and Solaris as well.
|
| The vast majority of people have only been exposed to Windows and
| Mac graphical operating systems and might not realize that lots
| of these ideas had roots in not-so-personal computers.
| jasoneckert wrote:
| I love this. This is exactly the type of creativity that makes
| the Web fun!
| boreq wrote:
| https://glenda.0x46.net/ Website resembling the Plan 9's rio
| desktop environment.
| melkael wrote:
| Made one a few times ago, it was a lot of fun to do. Not really
| up to date but still fun. Shameless plug : https://elkael.com
| iforgotmypass wrote:
| Fascinated and feeling surreal, that I was able to load Doom and
| check it out on my phone's web browser in
| https://www.windows93.net/.
| klipt wrote:
| The MIDI library on that one is crazy huge. They even have
| LeChuck's theme from Monkey Island.
| pgnas wrote:
| This is fantastic!
| tyingq wrote:
| My favorite shared tk example:
| http://tkfp.sourceforge.net/images/progress_notes3.jpg
| gauravphoenix wrote:
| https://www.windows93.net is quite fun! I opened a terminal and
| typed reboot. Voila! it did reboot
| grawprog wrote:
| For some reason i was reading something on the CERN website a few
| days ago and while noticing the layout was odd, it never really
| clicked it was modelled after a desktop GUI. That's pretty cool
| though.
| chrismorgan wrote:
| A major accessibility problem with this: the list uses <div>s
| with click handlers, rather than links. This makes it not respond
| properly to clicks with modifiers (e.g. Ctrl+click), not have the
| right context menu options, not show the href in the status bar,
| and be _completely_ unusable to users of tools like screen
| readers or those that would navigate by keyboard.
|
| Never _ever_ do this. If it opens a new page, it's a link. <div>
| with a click handler is the wrong thing >99.99% of the time: it
| should be a link or a button.
| linkmotif wrote:
| Accessibility is super important, but gosh your comment here is
| downright horrible.
|
| It's neither not constructive, nor friendly. Nothing about the
| contents of the page itself. You're basically, rude and
| borderline hostile with italics emphasizing something the
| author /should not/ do. Horrible.
|
| Where's your #1 Hacker News site? Where's your awesome
| collection of awesome sites that you shared with people. I
| don't see one.
| cheez wrote:
| uh.... what
| wolfgang42 wrote:
| I think it could maybe be worded a little more politely, but
| _your_ comment seems far worse in that regard. At least the
| parent offers some advice about what to do instead.
| touchngthevodka wrote:
| It appears you are conflating criticism of the project with a
| personal attack on the user. There is a certain irony in your
| attempt to do so when you call the commenter an ass!
| HereBeBeasties wrote:
| I found it concise, well-explained, informative and helpful.
| Hopefully many other people learned something useful from it.
| The author of the original site certainly got value from it
| given their reply. You don't always have to sugar coat code
| review feedback with a meaningless "This is awesome but..." -
| it's usually disingenuous at best. Surely as hackers we
| should all appreciate good, useful feedback like this?
| syx wrote:
| hi I'm the creator of the page, thank you for the suggestion
| and for the explanation
| zcaceres wrote:
| Love this collection! I'm the creator of https://zach.dev
|
| Thanks a lot for putting it in on this list!
| syx wrote:
| Hi Zach, really loved the scanline effect and the ambient music
| of your website!
| peterburkimsher wrote:
| The Chinese QQ website had a similar desktop style back in the
| day! I was quite impressed by it, the windows could be dragged
| around too.
|
| I wish I could see more classic Mac OS style sites; the platinum
| interface really appealed to me.
| keosariel wrote:
| it has a little of retro look and feel. Nice job
| lazyjones wrote:
| Currently a bit broken: http://www.atari.st
| mortenjorck wrote:
| The choice of the Windows 9x "My Computer" iconography for the
| sites is nice and appropriate, but there's one thing missing. It
| just feels like they should require a double-click to launch!
| [deleted]
| codecamper wrote:
| is this done in webassembly?
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(page generated 2020-07-04 23:00 UTC)