Four prevalent themes in the discussion
- Nostalgia and appreciation for skeuomorphic/retro UIs
Many commenters fondly recall the “soul” and whimsy of older desktops and hope for a comeback. - “brink: This is lovely. I really hope society returns to chasing beauty again. We need it.”
- “ranger_danger: Yes! Please bring back the soul we had with retro OS GUIs (and the speed)... it's time for a resurgence.”
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“lelanthran: I look forward to more Window Managers (Hell, even a whole DE) that put the fun and whimsy back into computing.”
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Criticism of skeuomorphism as tacky or impractical
Some argue that excessive skeuomorphism looks gimmicky and hinders productivity. - “flowerlad: This project highlights why designers hate skeuomorphism. Skeuomorphism looks tacky unless done very very well. Skeuomorphic design under Steve Jobs looked very good. This doesn't come close.”
- “creaturemachine: Way too far. I don't want my desktop to look like a puzzle straight out of Myst, or a reinvention of Bob.”
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“PanicAdmin: I see that this very bad idea is returning from the 90's.”
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Desire for variety, options, and customization
Users stress that both skeuomorphic and flat/minimal styles should coexist as choices. - “bmurphy1976: I want more stuff like this… If you like bland modern design, great, that should be an option as well, but we should still have good variety.”
- “bovermyer: I love this. Hopefully we start to see more experiments like this.”
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“iamnothere: This is neat, it’s not for me (I prefer extreme minimalism) but I could see how some would prefer it. I like how we’re getting more desktop options now thanks to wlroots.”
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Usability and discoverability concerns
A recurring point is that hidden UI elements (scrollbars, focus indicators) hurt usability, regardless of visual style. - “lelanthran: I think it does, but for new users only. I hate playing the 'is-this-a-button' on modern designs, not knowing what is clickable and what is not.”
- “Zigurd: I strongly suspect skeuomorphism similarly has no claim on functional advantage.”
- “tavavex: Always showing vital elements like the scrollbar isn't a skeuomorphic choice, it's always a good idea, they only started hiding them because it looked 'cleaner' to some UI designer.”
- “thwarted: …disappearing scrollbars makes zero sense and should never have been implemented on any interface.”