Why are people calling Windows vista
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I mean, I'm not entirely opposed to some translucency and gloss if it doesn't get in the way of legibility. For me early Mac OS X 'Aqua' circa 2003 is the peak of that aesthetic.
Any UI theme should also be applied consistently. What I hated about Vista is the Aero theme was only surface deep. You were always only a few clicks away from some program that look liked it hadn't been updated since Windows 95.
You were always only a few clicks away from some program that look liked it hadn't been updated since Windows 95.
That remains true for 10 and 11 too. For a quick trip back to 1995, just do something that you probably haven't done this millennium, change your mouse pointer. Instant nostalgia. Device manager in general hasn't changed much either.
I wouldn't even count that against them, working functionality shouldn't be changed without good reason, except that it exposes how much windows is a patch job on a fundamentally flawed design. If it were a boat or car, it would be more Bondo than metal at this point. Why are these dialogs so stuck in the past? Shouldn't it be a simple matter to have them use the latest design elements to at least look consistent, even if the functionality hasn't changed a bit.
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From day one of Windows 11, I wrote that Windows 11 felt like an unnecessary replacement for Windows 10. I’ve since changed my mind about that, in part because Microsoft has pivoted toward features like Windows Spotlight and adding AI capabilities like Copilot. MacOS Tahoe looks and feels somewhat like Windows Vista’s Aero Glass design language, but you can’t hold that against them—some of Microsoft’s early Windows efforts were fondly remembered for their UI.
Oh so he doesn't know what he is talking about. How has 11 gotten better with 'AI' or anything else.
Well, hopefully their opinion changed from "unnecessary replacement" to "replacement with degraded performance and unnecessary malware."
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I hated XP’s FisherPrice UI as well…
Yeah, the classic UI was better (and saved you a couple of pixels of useful screen real estate).
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And it's called Windows 11 to remind us of 9/11, because both are fucking tragedies.
My throat hurts and you made me laugh too hard, I hope you are happy.
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I've run into gen-z people talking very nostalgically about 2000s UI design trends. They've even retroactively dubbed the era as 'futiger aero'.
I'm a bit older and don't as fondly remember that era; I remember a lot of excesses like nonsensical reflections and calendar apps with leather textures. The 2013 turn to "flat" design felt quite fresh to me, and I haven't really gotten tired of it yet.
Windows XP was the peak of Windows' UI.
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And it's called Windows 11 to remind us of 9/11, because both are fucking tragedies.
I like Windows 11. It's the only OS currently in existence to actually implement HDR properly, and that's just sad.
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Also, everyone hated the UI in Vista at the time.
I feel like I was the only person who liked vista. XP looked like shit, so I used win 2k instead and switched to Vista, never had any issues with it at all.
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Windows XP was the peak of Windows' UI.
Aged badly.
However, the Embedded Edition theme looks fine. -
Hell yeah I love that shit. Gimme unnecessarily textured UIs, frosted glass effects and all the skeuomorphisms you can manage.
skeuomorphisms
No joke, that kind of design was super useful for touchscreens. Especially if the buttons animated like a button and visibly depressed upon being tapped. Made it real easy to tell if you mistyped or of the touchscreen was fucked up and registering your tap in a slightly different spot.
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Necessary "BTW, I'm using arch linux" comment coming through!
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Because people don’t seem to remember that Mac OS X 10.2 used Aqua and glassmorphism in 2002 to match their iMac’ brand new translucent style 5 years before Windows Vista was released (2007).
Yeah and odd they don’t see the fundamental difference between these, Apple was always “glass widgets on/in a solid rectangle”
Only on Windows were windows windows
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I like Windows 11. It's the only OS currently in existence to actually implement HDR properly, and that's just sad.
Nothing else works but hey the blacks are blacker!
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I've run into gen-z people talking very nostalgically about 2000s UI design trends. They've even retroactively dubbed the era as 'futiger aero'.
I'm a bit older and don't as fondly remember that era; I remember a lot of excesses like nonsensical reflections and calendar apps with leather textures. The 2013 turn to "flat" design felt quite fresh to me, and I haven't really gotten tired of it yet.
There was the unreleased Windows “Blackcomb”, basically prior to Redmond seeing Apple’s Aqua, which was like a bit Windows 2000, a bit ME, flatness, outlines, square corners, and it could’ve been metro.
But resolutions and anti-aliasing were getting (slightly) better, so copy Apple, XP instead gets texture and rounds everything.
Vista was another interesting take, especially weird was the window controls. We are still living with those weird long controls with a margin below, but not above them, a lot of the time, even in flat land Windows 11.
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We've seen all the window border/ui design cycles by now. You can have:
- Glassy
- Metallic
- Bubbly
- Flat
- Chiseled stone
They will just rotate every 7 years or so from here on out.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]The exact same trends go round and round in web design too (and now apps).
At first things were square (because that was all the technology could do) then in the 2000s CSS exploded and everything went colour gradients and rounded corners, just because people could, then that became old-hat and everything went flat and square again, and then rounded came back (but without so many gradients)
Everything is cyclical.
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Also, everyone hated the UI in Vista at the time.
Man I loved Aero and I’m excited for iOS and iPadOS 26. Shit looks beautiful.
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Nothing else works but hey the blacks are blacker!
Nothing else works
With the exception of some UI elements I need third party tools to restore to their previous customizability, I’ve had no problems making anything that worked in 10 work in 11. Which isn’t surprising, 11 is 10, with a shitty UI redesign.
What doesn’t work?
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From day one of Windows 11, I wrote that Windows 11 felt like an unnecessary replacement for Windows 10. I’ve since changed my mind about that, in part because Microsoft has pivoted toward features like Windows Spotlight and adding AI capabilities like Copilot. MacOS Tahoe looks and feels somewhat like Windows Vista’s Aero Glass design language, but you can’t hold that against them—some of Microsoft’s early Windows efforts were fondly remembered for their UI.
Oh so he doesn't know what he is talking about. How has 11 gotten better with 'AI' or anything else.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Who's "he", and where did that quote come from? I only see an image, did I miss an article cross-posted or something?
EDIT: Apparently, it's from PCWorld.
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Windows XP was the peak of Windows' UI.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Disagree. 2000, Vista, and especially 7 all looked better than XP. XP was childish.
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Apple hates giving users choices, though, so I hope they do ok for those folks.
They’ve definitely improved on this front. It’s fun comparing my iPhone homescreen (a user who moved to iPhone after over a decade of Android customization and arrived at almost just the right time) to people who’ve used iPhone all along. They don’t know what to do with themselves, they’re still pages of app icons.
Meanwhile I’m sitting here with a single beautifully minimal screen with some folders and a big ‘ol weather widget, a swipe gets me to a page full of useful widgets, a swipe the other direction gets me to my app drawer or whatever the hell Apple calls it.
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I've run into gen-z people talking very nostalgically about 2000s UI design trends. They've even retroactively dubbed the era as 'futiger aero'.
I'm a bit older and don't as fondly remember that era; I remember a lot of excesses like nonsensical reflections and calendar apps with leather textures. The 2013 turn to "flat" design felt quite fresh to me, and I haven't really gotten tired of it yet.
The 2013 turn to "flat" design felt quite fresh to me, and I haven't really gotten tired of it yet.
Man, I have. I liked it at first, but I’m so ready.
The processing power wasn’t there yet in 2007 for the level of refraction and skeuomorphism that makes this look work on a system-wide level. In Vista and 7 Aero was just fancy transparency with some blurring and flares. But this design language Apple is showing off is beautiful. I hope others copy it (which will probably happen, since everything in tech is everyone copying everyone else).
(That said, I would probably also take a return to the 9x/NT4/Windows 2000 2.5D grey UI over the flat stuff at this point, so maybe I’m not a good source of opinion.
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