Show HN: My Windows XP portfolio with working Game Boy and iPod
I posted my portfolio here about a year ago ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45154609 ) and while there was a big response, it was very mixed! It'll probably be similar this time, but regardless of your thoughts about the concept, I think I've done a pretty good job creating one of the most nostalgic corners of the internet, especially with the latest additions. It'll always be up for debate whether this is an effective way to get noticed as opposed to a standard, quick and easy portfolio, but I'll die on the hill that this is way more fun for both parties, every day of the week.
Discussion Highlights (14 comments)
andai
Awesome. Props for the iPod clickwheel. I miss my Classic!
iJohnDoe
So friggin’ cool. I think it’s really fun and when you can instantly entice people to click around and explore then you have already succeeded.
freshnode
You've nailed the feel. Ignore the nay sayers!
po1nt
That Windows XP loading bar brings me back. Great job.
bartread
I mean... I like it. I remember your post from last time where, apparently, I got the top comment. It looks like you've dealt with the UX issues I ran into previously (e.g., back/forward behaviour), but I did almost immediately spot a different oddity in your portfolio... When you click on "My Projects" and then use the left nav to switch between "All", "Image", "Web", etc., it highlights the relevant projects rather than filtering out the irrelevant projects... which does feel a bit weird. I guess I understand it give you only have four projects in there but that's perhaps the other issue: I'd really like to see more projects than you're showing off here. But, I mean, I still like it - I really like it. It's a lot more characterful than the vast majority of other portfolios I've seen and the attention to detail is very strong overall. Again, something I said last time that I'll repeat here: if you were applying for a design or UX role with this I'd certainly interview you. I'd have to be unhinged not to. (And, FWIW, I thought I gave you fairly balanced feedback, but clearly managed to piss a few people off so maybe, again, we'll both be in for another roasting - or at least a rather mixed bag of comments. Regardless, I wish you the absolute best.)
tmp32736
I love it. But I'm missing the Game Boy cheat code to unlock the goodies...
superdisk
Not to criticize your work too harshly, but you specifically call out that this showcases attention to detail, and it's actually very inaccurate to the actual Windows XP, for anyone who's ever used it before. The UI elements are all haphazardly sized relative to each other, there are alpha-fade ins/outs, the loading bar in the boot screen animates smoothly when the real thing popped along block-by-block, fonts are antialiased when they shouldn't be, hover-over dropdown menus appear/disappear instantly when moused over, the fake scanlines are just a pixel grid overlay, the selection box on the desktop is filled but should be a dotted outline... these are just the few I saw and I haven't used XP in years.
ty_2k
This is so sick. Laughed hard when the iPod wheel worked as expected with my mouse and I was able to get Bomfunk MC's playing. Great stuff!
Philip-J-Fry
I commented on the original post and I still don't understand the point of a "Visual Designer" basically reimplementing Windows XP in the browser. What are you trying to show off? Also, it seems very buggy with the visuals. I see weird artifacts.
vunderba
Nice job. I saw a portfolio designed as a Mac OS 9 interface a while back, but I think one of the best ones I’ve ever seen was one that modeled a sort of 3D, “UNIX‑esque” operating system [1]. A small bit of feedback: the progress bar during boot is a little too smooth. If you want to be accurate, it should technically move in ticks, where each tick corresponds to one of the segments. [1] - https://joeyderuiter.me
melvinczyk
This is amazing, really takes me back. I love the interaction on the website and how you can move around the windows.
qmr
A little dodgy that the game boy is only available on desktop? Pretty cool though.
Phoenixhq
I just took a look and it's really great, it feels like going back in time.
V01t
I really enjoyed this, thanks for taking me back in time!