Comment by Someone1234
11 days ago
Windows 95 has some legitimate problem but one thing that was nice is that Microsoft (and Apple) were doing Skeuomorph, so training users to use it was a joy. It was designed to be easy to learn. Today they don't really care how users are trained, and just assume they'll figure it out.
PS - Yes, Skeuomoric concepts age out, like Floppy Disk-Save Icons, but the concept still has merit. It can help "ground" the experience.
They were not doing skeuomorphism. They were using simple visual clues, like "bevels" on buttons, to convey the existence of a control and its state. They weren't disguising controls as "paint" on "felt" on a gaming table, as Apple Game Center did at the peak of their cheesiness.
The overreaction known as "flat" design (AKA no design) has fortunately started to recede. Still... some derelict "designers" are still deliver Advent calendars instead of usable applications.
I hate to think how much has been written on whether icons need to be updated because the picture isn't literal to the device it uses now, compared that link broken years ago and being more abstract representing a concept. I wonder if in a few years when some cars may be driven by hub motors will there be some moaning that the icon in an engine check light needs changing.
There's so many options on what icons could be for the thing they represent you'll never please everyone, why is forwards a right facing arrow and backwards left facing? (Is this swapped for right-to-left languages?) Why not representing Z-depth away/forwards towards/back? What does reload have to do with rotation?