Libraries To Make Your Website Look Retro Are On Github

Since about 2010, web designers have seen an interesting wave of nostalgia emerging online, and it seems to be related to interest on how information technology developed in the 20th century. You have probably seen WordPress themes that recreate the look of macOS, Linux terminals, Windows 95, and even the first iteration of the Microsoft Metro user interface; what we are seeing now are GitHub libraries that let you code websites with retro UI styling.

If you want to create a website that looks like the old Windows 98 desktop interface, head over to GitHub and search for 98.css, a neat project that lets you easily design style elements to give sites the appearance the blue-on-gray appearance of the operating system that dominated personal computing at a time when the web was exploding. With 98.css, you will not have to worry about JavaScript because the library relies on semantic HTML, which means that it can be used with various coding frameworks; in fact, some early adopters are already working on Electron.JS projects to develop web apps geared towards older users who may feel more comfortable with a Win98-like interface.

In addition to 98.css, there is also an option to make your projects look like Windows 95 software. Search for Themesberg on GitHub and take a look at the Windows 95 UI Kit, a Bootstrap library that does what its name suggests. The UI elements of Win95 are not as friendly or effective as those of Win98, but they are fun to recreate for retro styling purposes. Another GitHub project along these lines is VietCodes, which emulates the look of an old Ubuntu Linux distribution from the days when it used the Unity desktop environment.

The nostalgia for retro user interfaces is related to vaporwave, a sub-genre of electronic dance music that remixes pop and R&B hits from the 1980s and 1990s along with references to operating systems, computer graphics, video games, and personal electronics from that era. One of the best projects in this regard is Poolside FM, a fun website that throws visitors into an old Macintosh desktop packed with great music plus lots of stuff to do. For more information click here https://jdan.github.io/98.css/.