
Creating Windows XP Icons (2001) - richev
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms997636.aspx
======
nexuist
Maybe this is just me, but does anyone else think the XP design is timeless?
Maybe it's because I grew up with it, but looking at these icons....it's not
_ugly_. The interface strikes a good balance between skeuomorphism and unique
digital design that I feel is missing from all of today's UI designs.

I don't know. I think XP looks nice, even compared to today's standards.

~~~
int_19h
Personally I hated the default look and feel back when it was released. It was
screaming "plastic" all over, except for Luna Silver. Icons were less
plasticky than the rest of it, but still meh.

IMO, the timeless Windows look is Win2K - it's when they got the original
Win95 / WinNT4 look perfect. They adjusted the colors a little bit so it was
less dark, and IIRC that was also the first version to have sky blue wallpaper
background by default, and blue gradient title bars. It was also the first to
switch from MS Sans Serif to Tahoma 8pt for the UI font, and Tahoma was pretty
much pixel perfect at that size.

So the overall effect was that it looked more cheerful than Win9x, but not
cartoonish.

[https://i.imgur.com/jwzJiSW.png](https://i.imgur.com/jwzJiSW.png)

~~~
V-2
I liked the non-standard, black Zune theme on XP. The default blue one is
indeed timeless, but not in a positive sense, imho. It was a textbook case of
the UI drawing attention to itself for the sake of it. When the dominating
colour is so bright and jarring, how do you make the accents stand out?

~~~
V-2
[https://skatter.com/files/2006/11/windowszunetheme.png](https://skatter.com/files/2006/11/windowszunetheme.png)
That's the one.

~~~
amenod
Is it just me or was this Start menu _much_ easier to navigate than the Win10
one?

~~~
naikrovek
Not just you, but I don't see how it's any easier. Most of the same stuff is
on that start menu as is on as the Win10 version, they're just arranged
_slightly_ differently.

People like what they like, you don't have to justify why. I hate carrots.
Why? Doesn't matter, it's still a valid choice, same as start menus.

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WebDanube
That entire page is just one giant trip down the memory lane. Kind of hard to
digest how much of an impact XP had on the desktop OS scene, it's truly the
gold standard imo.

Vista's subsequent failure [0] only added to XP's rise.

[0]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLgRryt2ZtE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLgRryt2ZtE)

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yreg
It seems they were (at least partially) designed by IconFactory. They do cool
icons to this day.

[https://design.iconfactory.com/microsoft-windows-
xp/](https://design.iconfactory.com/microsoft-windows-xp/)

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richev
Luna[0] looks pretty dated to my eyes, but I'd gladly switch back to the
Windows XP icon style.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP_visual_styles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP_visual_styles)

~~~
hambos22
Ah Royal Noir! I remember those days, my friends were pimping their bikes and
I was pimping my desktop. I had to find Royal Noir on the internet because it
wasn't embedded with XP, and with each download, one virus gift :D

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theandrewbailey
> Each Windows XP icon should contain these three color depths to support
> different monitor display settings:

> 24-bit with 8-bit alpha (32-bit)

> 8-bit (256 colors) with 1-bit transparency

> 4-bit (16 colors) with 1-bit transparency

This has been bugging me for a few years: when (and why) did we switch from
measuring color depth as a total of all channels to measuring color depth as a
single channel? When people talk about image and video formats today, "8-bit"
means 8 bits per channel (presumably meaning 32 bits per pixel), not 256
colors total.

~~~
sneakernets
We didn't switch at all. The problem is that people are confusing video cards
with digital monitors and RAW image formats.

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LandR
I wish Microsoft would redo the icons on Windows 10.

I'm using the dark theme on Explorer, and the yellow folders just look odd.

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cpburns2009
Back when themes we're actually good. I started on Windows 3.1 as a kid. Every
update from 3.1 through 7 was an improvement on the theme. After that it went
downhill.

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peterburkimsher
These are Mac icons, not Windows, but they're also small 32x32 pixel artwork.

[https://iconpush.github.io](https://iconpush.github.io)

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neelkadia
Man that 4-bit icon is legit!!!

