Clean and usable. It’s not like Windows 3.1 or 68K-era Mac OS - or modern Windows - where everything’s flat. Undifferentiated. Lacking visual hierarchy, despite necessary functional hierarchy. Windows 95 managed relief shading and instant on-click skeumorphism in sixteen colors.
Nowadays they’re afraid to put text on buttons. The buttons don’t even depict things! You get a field of abstract squiggles, all with the same color and weight.
And it’s not like Windows 95 was built for experts. There’s a “click Start” animation on first boot, it offers a “Windows tour” on every boot, and everything sprouts a tooltip if you hesitate. They treated users like distracted idiots - unlike today, where they treat you like a child.
Clean and usable. It’s not like Windows 3.1 or 68K-era Mac OS - or modern Windows - where everything’s flat. Undifferentiated. Lacking visual hierarchy, despite necessary functional hierarchy. Windows 95 managed relief shading and instant on-click skeumorphism in sixteen colors.
Nowadays they’re afraid to put text on buttons. The buttons don’t even depict things! You get a field of abstract squiggles, all with the same color and weight.
And it’s not like Windows 95 was built for experts. There’s a “click Start” animation on first boot, it offers a “Windows tour” on every boot, and everything sprouts a tooltip if you hesitate. They treated users like distracted idiots - unlike today, where they treat you like a child.