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Comment by olivierestsage | Hacker News Reader

Although my favorite is Win32, Modern/Fluent is the only one that really strikes me as "bad."

You'd probably like GTK/QT. Both of them are effectively delineations of that same functional design language, with holistically different approaches to the subject. I personally love both, but they're a fascinating case study if nothing else.

Yes, I certainly do -- especially Qt.

I'm always wondering whether my preference for this more "traditional" design paradigm just comes from using Win32 in my formative years or some objective difference of quality.

Anyone who shares the sentiment might want to check out the Chicago95 theme[1].

[1] https://github.com/grassmunk/Chicago95

I think they were quite efficient designs. I grew up using a lot of paradigms, from 3.1, 95, RiscOS, Workbench and dabble of Mac 9/10 later on. I gave gnome 3 a good go, but while I really enjoyed the visual appeal of it, I found I wasn't as productive - trying to switch Windows was hard as the windows didn't stay in the same place like they did with a taskbar. Unity was more productive for me. But I'm happiest on MATE.

That’s the funniest part: the oldest style is still the best.

Because back then usability was in focus: https://socket3.wordpress.com/2018/02/03/designing-windows-9...

There is also a Twitter thread that notes what got lost over time - especially separation and contrast. https://twitter.com/tuomassalo/status/978717292023500805

I'm glad Windows still has a high contrast mode for the people who really need it to see things, but I so wish that designers everywhere would think much more about keeping good contrast. They're all working on high-end monitors in ideal conditions, all nicely color calibrated. But that's not normal. TN panels are still very popular. On those, elements displayed on screen very easily lose contrast when looking at them at an angle. I have a sub-optimal positioning right now on a TN panel where the center is lined up with my eyes and looks good, but if I look to the top of the panel, everything is darker than it should be.

You're thinking of a TN panel. VA panels can be nearly as good as IPS in terms of viewing angles.

You're right. I always get TN and VA mixed up. I'll edit that.

TN panels are still very popular. On those, elements displayed on screen very easily lose contrast when looking at them at an angle.

Back when ads were actually a different background color on Google, I suspect they A/B tested background colors right up to the point that they disappeared on cheap TN laptops. I experienced this first hand when helping a friend with their laptop 5-10 years ago, and they clicked on an ad by mistake. Turned out that the ad background turned white at normal laptop viewing angles.

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