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by prezjordan 591 days ago
Author here – happy to see this posted again!

This was my burnout recovery project and I wrote some thoughts on it recently https://notes.jordanscales.com/98-css-reflections

3 comments

Thanks for your work on this! I recently used 98.css in my fairly simple web app[0] for a recreation of something from my childhood, and it worked beautifully for my purposes.

[0]: https://www.mathsheets.net/

I'd suggest using checkboxes instead of radio buttons for the operator selection. It would be useful, I think, to have a mix of just addition and subtraction, or just multiplication and division, instead of having one option or all four.
I hadn't thought of that use case, thanks for the feedback!
Thank you for including houndstooth :,)
Phenomenal work
> burnout recovery

I hope you're feeling better. Interesting how retro computing, like old games and operating systems, can be comforting and even healing. I've had similar experience with emulators - playing Gameboy and Nintendo games from childhood, or running Macintosh System 9.

Reminds me of Pico-8, SerenityOS, TempleOS. There's a common thread of a retro-style computing environment that can be entirely understood and controlled by the user.

I imagine there's deeper psychological dynamics to this, like a safe "sandbox" as a therapeutic tool.

It also says something about design with empathy and focus on user experience. There are so many hostile dark patterns these days in technology and society, that it's a relief to find some space (physical or mental) that's designed for your comfort.

It’s more that nostalgia is apparently very healthy for you
This is the most accurate replication I have ever seen of Windows 98. Wish there's one for Windows 2000 and Windows XP.