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by mk_stjames 1287 days ago
The whole system.. from the sizing of the borders and titlebars to the font and the menu density to the icon sizing, spacing, and design in general...

All feels more coherent than anything today. It feels like it was sketched out by a small group of people and executed incredibly well. Meanwhile things today look more disjointed like the product of a lot of design-by-committee.

Susan Kare's 'Chicago' in this rendering hits hard in the nostalgia factor to me a well.
3 comments
Cockbrand 1287 days ago
I'll be that guy... the system font for menus, etc in OS 8 and 9 is "Geneva" [EDIT: It's "Charcoal", of course. Thanks for the heads up!]. It was "Chicago" up to and including System 7.x.

I do agree on all other points :)

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ihatepython 1287 days ago
Pretty sure it was Charcoal and not Geneva.
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Cockbrand 1287 days ago
You're right, I mixed up the two font names in my head. I edited my post above.
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mk_stjames 1287 days ago
Huh, TIL. I had always thought it was always just up-res'ing variations on Chicago, up thru and including the first iPod.

They look pretty similar but now that I look it them side by side I see it a bit.

As much as it is the style, it's also that kinda.. not-True-type still-a-bit-pixelated edges look that is the nostalgia factor, I guess.

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tobr 1287 days ago
Original iPod did use Chicago though! Then when they got color screens they switched to Lucida Grande.
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philwelch 1287 days ago
iPod used Chicago for the same reason Chicago was used on the original Mac—it was designed to make UI elements clearly readable on low resolution monochrome screens.
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resters 1287 days ago
I agree it was a high point for UI/UX logic. The filesystem was part of the OS experience and it generally made sense with little magic going on.

I have wondered in the years since whether the newer abstractions and UI patterns we find in MacOS and Windows are actually necessary. These days both OSes are trying to be tablet friendly, trying to discourage user-installed/curated software, and trying to promote bundled cloud services, so it's not even clear to me whether the MacOS 9 abstractions are really the correct ones anymore, as evidenced by the many problems with cloud backed file explorer interfaces, synchronization, etc.

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ralphc 1286 days ago
I have several Macs that run OS 9, I pull them out just to use the UI at times, I enjoy it so much. It all flows and works together so well.
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