Comment by mike_hearn
4 hours ago
It was always the wild west. Windows was full of "native" apps that reinvented their own UI. Off the top of my head:
- Office (custom widget toolkit, menus, toolbars, etc)
- Internet Explorer (frequently introduced new toolbar designs not available to apps via API until later)
- Encarta (custom dark mode-ish theme)
- Netscape Communicator (custom toolbars)
- RealPlayer
- QuickTime
- MSN Messenger (custom theme)
- Every video game ever
... UI inconsistency didn't arrive with the web. Even macOS has always been a patchwork. Apple couldn't stop introducing new themes over time and there were always apps that didn't quite follow. Brushed metal!
Kai's Power Tools / Power Goo / Bryce took the custom interface stuff to the most extreme lengths - people genuinely loved it at the time but I think most would be horrified if anything went that far today.
https://mprove.de/script/99/kai/index.html
Ha! I forgot about those. Man I loved playing with Bryce back in the day, what a magical program that was. And yeah the UI was gorgeous for its time. Heck it still looks great even today, tbh.
For all those instances, at least keyboard navigation worked. Modern UIs are impossible to use with the keyboard.