Michael Feeney, a graphic designer, has recreated several modern macOS 12 applications to see what they would have looked like in the Mac OS 9 era.
In order to realize "(mac)OStalgia," Feeney first analyzed the Mac OS 9 environment using the SheepShaver emulator, and then created a library ofUI components that he could reuse throughout the project.
He gave the Mac OS 9 treatment to a number of apps that were crucial to his daily work. You can see the results of the project in the embedded video.
The differences between the user interface and user experience stood out the most.
Even though design andUI trends have changed a lot in the past 20 years, applications still behave and look the same. It is difficult to replace well installed behavior such as visual feedback on hover, scroll for more content, double click to launch application, etc.
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As part of the operating systems, the accessibility front has improved dramatically. The Voice Control, integrated screen readers, dark mode, and other improvements were what stood out the most.
In October of 1999, Mac OS 9 was released, and it included internet support out of the box with internet explorer, an email client, text-to-speech, and the direct descendant of Spotlight in macOS. Mac OS 9 was discontinued by Apple in 2001 and replaced by Mac OS X.
The Figma community and personal projects can download the Mac OS 9:UI Kit for free.
