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points by ChrisClark 3 days ago | 0 comments

It's been that way forever, did you forget about the Borland buttons? Colorful icons on them, much bigger, different shading.

[–] reddalo 3 days ago

> Borland buttons

Wow, you unlocked a memory. In case somebody doesn't remember, or doesn't know, the style of Borland buttons, here's a screenshot: https://sourceforge.net/p/owlnext/wiki/Replacing_usage_of_BW...

Some more screenshots on this page: https://www.drbob42.com/delphi/findmapc.htm

(Look at all those misaligned icons/labels in the Tool Options screenshot!)

[–] andrewshadura 3 days ago

On the contrary, they seem to be placed like that on purpose.

[–] mrob 2 days ago

Agreed. Note the increased spacing to separate the generic "Help" button from the others that are specific to the dialog box. Aligning the buttons to the text input fields would break this separation and it could also give the false impression that the buttons were related to the input fields.

[–] layer8 3 days ago

They had a different look, but usage and UI conventions including keyboard navigation worked basically the same. Since the mixing of mobile and desktop with web technology, it’s the Wild West.

[–] mike_hearn 3 days ago

It was always the wild west. Windows was full of "native" apps that reinvented their own UI. Off the top of my head:

- Office (custom widget toolkit, menus, toolbars, etc)

- Internet Explorer (frequently introduced new toolbar designs not available to apps via API until later)

- Encarta (custom dark mode-ish theme)

- Netscape Communicator (custom toolbars)

- RealPlayer

- QuickTime

- MSN Messenger (custom theme)

- Every video game ever

... UI inconsistency didn't arrive with the web. Even macOS has always been a patchwork. Apple couldn't stop introducing new themes over time and there were always apps that didn't quite follow. Brushed metal!

[–] roryirvine 2 days ago

Kai's Power Tools / Power Goo / Bryce took the custom interface stuff to the most extreme lengths - people genuinely loved it at the time but I think most would be horrified if anything went that far today.

https://mprove.de/script/99/kai/index.html

[–] mike_hearn 2 days ago

Ha! I forgot about those. Man I loved playing with Bryce back in the day, what a magical program that was. And yeah the UI was gorgeous for its time. Heck it still looks great even today, tbh.

[–] oneeyedpigeon 2 days ago

How is Winamp not on this list?!

[–] 72deluxe 2 days ago

For all those instances, at least keyboard navigation worked. Modern UIs are impossible to use with the keyboard.

[–] gmueckl 3 days ago

But they were not too far removed from how the standard Windows buttons looked. Office had its own look in a lot of ways back then, e.g. with the extra handles on the toolbars.

Now, if I take a couple of current applications, the differences are much bigger: from the top of my head, Explorer, Settings, Edge, Office, Steam, Spotify all have much more unique UIs.

[–] bombcar 3 days ago

There was a short period of time around Windows 95-XP where application developers really wanted to try to use the "latest and greatest" because if they didn't they really stood out as being "last year's tech".

Then XP kind of broke that as so many started not bothering and then it all went sideways.