Ask HN: What operating systems, apps, etc. had your favorite UI designs?

I enjoy looking at the UIs of older platforms or software. Something about that pixel-ish look appeals to me more than the modern look of UI.

For me, one of my favorites was the look of some of the later PalmPilot UIs. They were surprisingly good for a display of only 160×160 pixels. They may not look the best today, but they were very functional. In some ways, I actually prefer older UI designs. Modern UI components feel more complex and, in my opinion, lead to a greater number of bugs.

What are everyone’s favorite UIs, old or modern?

4 points | by pixelworm 1 day ago

5 comments

  • ksymph 1 day ago
    I've always had a soft spot for Metro design, aka Windows 8 UI. Win8 as a whole was a mess of course -- but looking beyond the glaring flaws, I think the new direction captured some of that Win95-esque spartan functionality while also having its own sense of personality. The modern minimalist UI hellscape is miserable, but overly skeumorphic designs like Win7 Aero (or Apple Liquid Glass) are obnoxious and cluttered to my eye, and I think Win8 Metro is an interesting attempt at a best-of-both-worlds.

    Honorable mention goes to the original Nintendo DS UI. For a console so laser focused on the casual market it's weirdly professional looking. A little on the sterile side but it works great for the low resolution.

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    • btzo 13 hours ago
      I remember the zune music player. Really loved the palette of colors they used and the minimalist interface
    • SvenL 1 day ago
      I still love the windows phone 7 metro ui. Live tiles, focus on typography, no hamburger menu etc.
  • mikewarot 6 hours ago
    I thought Windows 2000 Server, SP4 was the best OS for general use. Everything worked, and was in the right place.
  • jjice 16 hours ago
    The previous version of iOS (iOS 18). I'm not sure when it started (maybe iOS 7), but that and then Android following suit was a great UI.

    That said, I'm also one of the minority that actually like the new liquid glass aesthetic.

  • PaulHoule 1 day ago
    I miss the UI for the Playstation 3 and the Playstation Vita.
  • raw_anon_1111 13 hours ago
    iOS 4-6. But I understand why they had to abandon it. The pixel perfect bespoke design language wasn’t responsive - ie it wouldn’t scale to screens of different sizes.