But the problem with you billing yourself as a graphic designer and reimplementing Windows XP is that you’re copying a design that already exists rather than showcasing your own design skills, so I can’t immediately tell how good a designer you are[0].
I can look at your projects under the IE icon, which gives more of an impression, but some of the visuals there do look decidedly AI generated, which isn’t super-encouraging.
The UX is also weird. For example, the back/forward history controls behave like carousel controls through your portfolio, whereas when I hit back/previous I expect to be taken back to the menu of projects.
If you applied to me for a job with this, would I interview you?
Yes, I would, simply because I can see you’ve put a lot of effort in and created something high quality. But I’d have some reservations because of the concerns I’ve raised above and, in particular, I’d want to dig in to how user-centred your approach is, because that isn’t really demonstrated here.
Sorry if this sounds discouraging. What you’ve done is cool, and I like it, and it would certainly get you a foot in the door of many interview processes, but that will be when the real work of showcasing your skills begins.
I hope that makes sense?
[0] Literally, I could do this, and I suck at design. It’s very similar to the process of implementing a design passed to me by a UX Designer, which I’ve done loads of times.
> Literally, I could do this, and I suck at design.
Are you sure about that? I've seen plenty of imitation XP interfaces in my day, and there are virtually always elements that are jarringly wrong. While I won't claim that MitchIvin XP is a faithful reproduction of XP, in the sense that one could compile a long list of inconsistencies with Windows XP, the experience is pleasant enough.
This was my concern too - as a little project, it's interesting but if it's a replica of XP it has been done before and much more accurately.
As a portfolio, I think it doesn't work at all and is detrimental to what you're trying to do. I think now in design, it is more important than ever for your work to cut through the noise and show at least some attempt to create something original.
I think sometimes graphic design is seen as competence with certain programs, which I guess includes genAI now, or making something cool - but really it is visual communication that responds to a set of constraints - e.g. a brief, tailored to a target audience, communicating a product or emotion. There are no shortcuts - study what has been done, work on communicating what you want to say with colour, layout, typography and images. Draw and paint; avoid genAI until you are competent without it. Currently as a graphic design portfolio, I'm sorry to say it is memorably bad and there is a lot of work to do.
That said, well done on finishing something, and making it to the top of HN. I hope the attention leads somewhere and that you continue making things.
I disagree with you, as it seems you tend to prioritize graphic design while overlooking other important aspects.
Personally, I find this idea alone to be very creative. Isn't a great designer someone who weaves together countless mediocre ideas to form a truly creative concept?
> Yes, I would, simply because I can see you’ve put a lot of effort in and created something high quality. But I’d have some reservations because of the concerns I’ve raised above and, in particular, I’d want to dig in to how user-centred your approach is, because that isn’t really demonstrated here.
Then the site satisfied its purpose. A portfolio site should get you an interview with someone who is curious to know more. Its purpose is to be a foot in the door, not to get you the job.
I would hire this guy he stands out from the competition! He has tenacity, grit and more creativity then the majority. So much more creativity that multi thousands of HN(ers) have enjoyed his creation, their friends and tech journalists who some will write about it showing his work to many more thousands to millions. Getting a job isnt easy now but being like this guy will no doubt make it easy to get many offers!
Ive been needing to update my portfolio site as in August an out of nowhere opportunity knocked on my door. Seeing this makes me want to innovate my portfolio for said opportunity(thanks for the inspiration).
Hey, copying someone's design is a talent itself. And this was quite a beautiful copy of a design. The "concerns" are mostly unanswered questions, or presumed limitations.
Well, not really. Graphic design isn’t art— it’s a communication strategy using text, images and layout to convey information to people — often purely visually with visual hierarchy, gestalt, color, etc. Lacking originality only really matters with branding, avoiding copyright infringement, or if existing cultural norms interfere with the message— like you’re obviously re-using something without deliberately making a reference to it as part of the message.
The much more important question for a graphic designer is: what exactly are you trying you communicate about yourself and your portfolio by invoking windows XP? Because right now, technical competence is about the closest I can get and I really don’t see the association. I think what they’re probably trying to do is evoke nostalgia among potential tech industry clients as a freelancer, and to be fair, the intended audience is always a big part of the equation.
If I was art directing, I probably wouldn’t bring them in for an interview — but I’ll bet they aren’t advertising themselves to art directors.
> Literally, I could do this
The classic refrain. Implementation is the easiest part of design work. It looks better than XP did, and it should— that’s one key skill that a designer should have. Nobody hiring a designer will care if they can accurately recreate the wonkiness of XP’s interface. And nobody is impressed that a developer can implement this because that’s a developer’s job. I’m genuinely impressed when a developer’s website has solid type design and a thoughtful informational hierarchy, but that’s not even the bare minimum required fora designer. Having done both, I think deciding exactly what goes on the screen/paper is the harder part. It takes longer and you’ve got a much more nebulous path to success.
> A faithful XP-inspired interface, custom-built to showcase my [...] attention to detail.
Here goes:
1. "Welcome" on the login screen should be lowercase
2. Balloon is too high (should touch the icon), close icon is too small (should be roughly the same height as the balloon title)
3. About Me is missing the scrollbar on Firefox
4. Wrong gradient for "Social Links"
5. Start menu should have a shadow
6. In My Projects, two tiles are loading forever
7. Windows that cannot be maximized, but can be minimized, should have all three buttons, with the middle one disabled
8. Paint did not have the Windows logo in the corner. It would be better to show the JSPaint menu bar to make things like Undo accessible, and the JSPaint authors deserve attribution.
9. "Git Co-pilot" is not a thing, as Git ≠ GitHub. (On the XP project page.)
If I were making something like this, I would probably skip the boot and login screens (certainly would not require user interaction; indeed, XP would automatically log you in if you had a single passwordless user), and show "About Me" on startup, so that potential clients don’t give up before they learn more about you.
no way, the boot and login screens add to the overall charm of the faithfulness of the reproduction, as much as does your attention to detail. In GUI applications one needs both aspects to enchant the user and keep them in a state of joyous disbelief -- without the disappointment -- as they use the system.
Also missed that double clicking the icon in the top left of the title bar closes the window. It does not toggle maximization like clicking the rest of the title bar does.
In general, it is even smoother than the real Windows XP. Kind of a magnetizing experience, and I do not know why. There is something attractive in this idea in terms of UI/UX, aside from the obvious nostalgia.
Another interesting aspect of this particular implementation is that it blends naturally with a browser tab hierarchy, it does not try to overrule it, it just blends in. Probably thanks to a distinctive taskbar, or maybe it is due to the startup screen/login/sound that set up a distinctive boundary "you are here now, and this is a friendly place to be".
> There is something attractive in this idea in terms of UI/UX
Very fast response time for the UI interactions. "Modern" UIs can have a few fast transitions but the overall interactions with the different components have a human noticeable lag that make them uneasy.
My thoughts exactly. I'm on macOS 26 Beta and this Windows XP felt like an upgrade. I think that's because it's simple, fast, intuitive and I know everything about how it works. Old Windows was also bad at multitasking due to single cpu core, which is better for the user to focus. In modern OS I have 20 windows open with hundreds of tabs, distributed over 6 different workspaces and 2 monitors. They all fly left to right with cool animations. I can't focus on anything.
Really polished! And it really captures that windows XP aesthetic, but also the spirit of that aesthetic.
If Windows XP had had some kind of super professional “create a portfolio” app that would output an executable binary that you could download it would’ve been lauded as amazing and beautiful if it looked like what you created.
This is great. It shows your skills, but also brings back the beauty of Windows XP, in a contemporary but historically accurate format.
It’s interesting, I’ll give you that, but feels entirely like the wrong approach.
I opened the page before reading your post, and what immediately jumped out at me is that you say you’re a graphic designer but then you’re copying someone else’s old design which isn’t even that good.
The second thing I noticed was the obvious AI icon for the login, and that hovering on it makes it move weirdly. I haven’t used Windows XP in over two decades but don’t remember it doing that. It looks like an error.
At that point, I started losing confidence. You are supposed to be a graphic designer but are obviously using AI to design graphics and I assumed you would be doing the same for the code.
The resume as a fake PDF is cramped and zooming in feels like a poor solution.
Same thing with your projects, I can’t view them properly because they’re shoved in a tiny window for no reason. Plus, two of them are just loading animations, and it’s hard to understand if they’re broken or will ever load.
Then I finally read your post. You say you had no coding experience and used AI agents and “every decision was human”, but if you don’t know how to code, most of the decisions will have been made by the LLM even if you instructed it in particular ways. Do you feel confident regarding what you ostensibly learned and that you’d be able to reimplement most of the project yourself from scratch?
Again, it is interesting and a cool project, but it’s not particularly well-made or original¹ and I feel that as a portfolio actually does you a disservice by showcasing your skills in the worst possible light.
This isn't meant to critique you personally. Your post just sparked the thought. But it points to a deeper, systemic issue with AI collaboration in coding, design, writing, and beyond.
The core tension is between replication and creation. Yes, some things will always resemble what came before. A hard-boiled detective novel usually has a corpse or two, a bottle, and a wisecrack. But the artistry and work are in what you do with the formula. Take Les Roberts, for example. He wrote detective novels, sure, but he set them in Cleveland, gave them local color, and turned Northeast Ohio into a character. That's authorship. That's presence.
You can absolutely ask an AI to plot the story. But the soul, that point, is what you bring to it: the choices, the voice, the friction.
What gives me pause here is that I don't feel that presence. The project looks good, but it feels like Windows XP. Smooth, clean, and generic. I can't tell what this person's actual skills are. From the post, they clearly put in real time and effort. They learned something and got it working. But what I see is replication. Competent, yes. But flat, in my opinion.
If I were in their shoes, someone who would struggle to replicate this, I'd still treat that as step one.
Okay, I copied it. Now, what can I improve? What parts of the interface feel off? Where could I take a risk? Then, show the before and after.
So here's the long-winded point.
Why stop at imitation? Why not go further? Why not show that you can replicate something, build on it, shape it, and own it?
That's the more profound concern I have about AI collaboration. How do you show your work in a world of infinite templates and effortless iteration? How do you show your soul, or if you are too shy to bare your soul, at least a differentiator, that means you should be hired?
(I say this with the absolute irony that I used Grammarly to ensure this collection of words somewhat resembled a coherent thought. In the words of Dirty Harry, "A man has to know his limitations."[0])
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I think a clear recreation is a cool addition to a wider portfolio that also showcases some of the elements you mention.
Having one deeply extended project and one memorable clean recreation (it's getting upvotes, seems like a novel enough idea) is probably more unique than two mildly extended projects, if I were to hazard a guess into what people ripping through dozens of portfolios are thinking.
You are probably right that the portfolio needs to be rounded out though and that this project shouldn't stand alone.
I think of this as a homage or appropriation, a gentle upgrade of classic Windows XP aesthetic into a form that merges a few contemporary affordances and new polish. It's a classic way of keeping art and styles fresh and how aesthetics evolve while retaining a clear lineage that respects their roots.
taskbar tabs - correct and I spent a crazy amount of time trying to figure out why they look off, admittedly I accepted defeat at where we landed but I think its pretty damn close!
the rest, are all aesthetic decisions haha but I was aware of some of them - I'm surprised you missed the biggest one of them all though.. also that nobody else has mentioned it yet - maybe its because nobody has tried it
the drag selection over desktop icons highlights the icons in a way much closer to windows 11 than XP... i really just thought it deserved an upgrade
edit: did i miss it or did you just add the thing about selection? you're right though
Every time I see it, a part of me misses the styling of Windows XP. It was kind of the only well-regarded windows that tried to actually be fun; the fact that there was a little dog mascot in the search results, the fact that the bar on the bottom kind of looks like a Fisher Price toy, Clippy!
I kind of miss when professional programs were allowed to be goofy.
As a side note, I really like your avatar; has kind of a Simpsons/Bob's Burgers vibe that I find appealing.
It's very cool, but I think two issues keep this from being truly delightful. First of all, it doesn't really feel like a computer, little things like typing "dir" in the command line could be a great little interaction, but it's not supported. I'd try to make it more fun to use and not just pretty to look at.
The other thing is, I think the portfolio doesn't really match the quality of the website you vibe coded. This is actually a pretty bad sign that your own work is not as good as something you can do with AI (human assisted or not). The website is pretty high quality, so browsing through extremely simple assets just feels out of place.
To me, the CRT effect looks like an early LCD (TFT panel) one. CRT monitors picture did not look like made of dots from what I can remember (maybe not for all monitors). Except maybe the Trinitron ones.
you're probably right and I've actually had someone tell me that no monitor during the XP era would've been a CRT one haha so the whole things a bit off but I think people can let it slide
This is really nice work, and it does showcase your skills, ability to learn, persistence and attention to detail.
I disagree with others who complain that either the design was copied or a few little details are not exactly the same as the original – I don't think that's the point here.
You should open source this and let other people contribute and build apps that work inside this sim. I would love to build a version of our browser into this. (https://github.com/browseros-ai/BrowserOS)
This was so nostalgic... I really like it and I am very impressed by how well it performs. Regardless of wether the design is original or not if you implemented this from the ground up and used something else as inspiration this is still a clear showcase of your skills. I think this could be considered as the equivalent of looking on StackOverflow for backend programming solutions.
This is wonderful. You should be proud. It's a fun recreation and it was fun to use. Back when I was using XP (2004-2010), I had a 19" black CRT monitor. Once I got a laptop, it became a second monitor. I got whatever the family didn't want and the few things I scrounged from used computer stores. In 2010, I jumped to Windows 7. The theming of Windows XP always reminds me of seeing it for the first time, how colourful and inviting it looked.
This is really good. I’ve seen recreations before but the attention to detail made this delightful to use. Agree with some of the other points that you’re recreating a design that already exists but it’s evident you spent some effort on this even with the help of AI (which was disclosed in the AUTHOR command in command prompt, thank you!)
just like the site itself, I'm slowly trying to piece something together in a coherent way when the process itself was the complete opposite. When I do figure it out I'll do a post/series of posts on LinkedIn most likely. there's a few posts already on there about it, but nothing super in-depth
im open to all connections btw :) i'm just getting started!
hit me with some idea's. in terms of novelty ideas ive thought maybe unlocking extra songs in the music player, or opening a different version of my projects that looks like it should (internet explorer) showing my wow logs or something lame hahah just some for the ones who would respect it
Feature request, very nitpicky: currently there is a grid overlay that simulates display pixels; but the content behind it is high resolution - as a result one “pixel” consists of multiple colors, which can break the illusion; this is especially visible when scrolling text. Perhaps there’s a way to render actual content in low resolution too, to match the grid resolution? E.g. set the css width&height of an element to 50% and upscale 2x via css scale transform (although filtering could be a problem), or render to a canvas and upscale there, or use html gl, or maybe there’s another way?
It looks good. As others have flagged up there are a few inaccuracies, but I noped out of Windows about the time XP came out (mainly due to the product activation stuff), so I couldn't itemize those in detail.
These kind of projects are fun to do, but as a showcase of your design skills... ehhhh? There are a few things that have your original design, like your résumé and such. Something like this is a much better showcase of your front-end coding skills, but you've delegated much of that to AI.
My advice: if you want to show off your programming skills, learn how to do it on your own. Don't do Windows XP right off the bat. Start with something simple. Make an Amiga "boing ball" bounce around the screen or something. Then tackle more complex challenges. It's not just about arriving at a finished product. By crafting something yourself, without machine assistance, you develop a better feel for what should be in the finished product and what shouldn't.
(It's OK to use dumb code generators to automate repetitive tasks, transpilers, etc. But there's a feel for when and how to use those as well.)
I don't think it counts as vibe coding, since the author read every line of code and presumably also asked questions about them and looked things up about the meanings of unfamiliar keywords and functions and so on.
It might be spiritually close to vibe coding in some ways because the author wasn't previously a programmer, so this code was never reviewed by a professional or trained developer.
But it was a high-effort project that involved inspecting and trying to understand the code, which isn't what vibe coding is about.
Whatever we want to call it, I think it's awesome! This is a good use of LLMs to help laypeople break into writing code imo, and the result is great.
This is super cool, I’m really impressed by how well it works on mobile, it feels very strange to be “using” windows on a phone but the whole experience is very smooth
> Every pixel and every function went through me. The AI translated what I asked for into code, but every decision was human.
You'll find that programmers are a lot less prickly when you use AI to generate code, than say artists are, when you use it to generate pictures. You don't have to defend yourself, it's OK to use it to make cool things that you couldn't otherwise.
You should be aware though that even though it may "feel like magic" when just getting started, there's an upper limit to the complexity of what you can build with AI-generated code - it's very low quality and will start falling apart once you stack a lot of it. For the same reason I wouldn't recommend using it as a learning resource, if you really want to get into programming.
It looks great the application section was a little lacking. Add minesweeper or defrag or any number of the pre installed pieces like file explorer and get more creative.
Its a lot of work setting everything you have up spend sometime on more details / applications
It’s very neat but I’m sorry, you can’t advertise yourself as a designer while prominently showcasing very obviously AI-generated graphics. The wallpaper and the avatar immediately undermine everything else, I can’t take you seriously seeing those
Looks and feels solid. Only issue I noticed off the bat is that scrolling isn't working in Chrome on Android. Also, idk if it's an issue with mobile Chrome but the address bar doesn't drop down.
Would be cool if the contact you page let me send you an email from your site itself instead of trying to launch my default mail app. I typed out an email and filled in my email but it tried to launch mail app when I tried to send it.
yeah I would also love to get that working - at one point that was the plan but things changed. It's something i'll look into updated, thanks for the suggestion.
btw, if you let your mail app open - whatever you typed into my contact me app will be pre-filled in a new message ready to send
Wow. Beyond anything, my main take away is *do not try to mimic [wW]indows [xX][pP] in any way*. I will never ever ever get it right enough. Stick to Windows 95 or earlier.
Looks great on mobile! I think it’s awesome. But I’d change the avatar to something more XP like and less Simpson-esque that has a less obvious GPT designed feel to it.
This is awesome, I found a tiny bug. On mobile, if I open CMD and the keyboard opens, the browser thinks I'm in landscape and blocks the UI till I close the keyboard.
Only bug I noticed was that the command line output doesn’t scroll. This was on my iPhone with the keyboard up as I was typing commands and press return.
fair call! the CRT toggle was fairly recent in comparison to the full screen toggle so it was a case of seniority haha but I'm at the point now were I can spend time on things like that and the icons will be getting a refresh at some stage so i'll remember this.
It should be based on my resume, you're right haha - a peak behind the curtain reveals a decade of struggles finding my place in the world before saying fuck it and following my gut. I'm 30, whoooops - if you do the math on my graduation you should be able to get there, not hiding it - but didn't want to shout it from the rooftops either haha
> Apart from basic libraries like xp.css and paint.js, it's all original code.
I wouldn't say this constitutes "original code". AI agents are trained on open-source software; to apply them and present this project as your own work is misleading.
On my dell XPS13 (Windows) the high DPI scaling makes the page display "please rotate your device back to portrait mode" . If I zoom out a few steps (ctrl-minus in the browser), it loads fine.
thanks for letting me know! i've had someone else mention that it didnt work on folding devices, but considering i've never even held one this makes more sense to me so ill look into it
I don't understand the claim, is it recreating the actual operating system and kernel, and it can run and install programs like an emulator? Or is it just superficially the UI?
Get rid of the AI profile picture. Just use the picture on your resume! That AI one means a good chunk of people will hate this website before they even click your name to "login" due to their own preexisting biases. As an artist myself I'm not happy about how AI companies have shamelessly plagiarized people's work. The fact you're using the same Studio Ghibli style everyone else is using just feels unoriginal. Whether employers would care is another story entirely.
Others have left good feedback regarding the UI inconsistencies that you should address.
If you really want this to reflect on your abilities as a graphic designer, you should make this "themeable." XP had multiple visual styles - there were variants of Luna, as well as the Royale theme that came with Media Center Edition, and other themes like the Zune theme. There were also numerous third-party user-created themes you could download and use (if you installed a dll patch).
You should consider adding a few of the standard themes - at the very least the silver, olive, and royale themes. But more importantly, you should make your own themes, and add them as options as well. Open up a dialog similar to XP's "Appearance" dialog on first run so users instantly know they will have that option.
It's great if you can recreate a user interface... but anyone can do that and many already have. What matters more is how you can build on the UI while remaining true to its design language and interaction paradigms. What uniqueness can you add to the UI?
Here are some links for inspiration:
- One example of this sort of thing is https://macthemes.garden/, which has thousands of Mac OS 8/9 themes.
- For examples of XP third party themes... I don't know any good websites off the top of my head but DeviantArt has had lots of 3rd party themes and style assets uploaded to it over the years (for both Windows and macOS): https://www.deviantart.com/search?q=windows+xp+themes
Use these as inspiration and come up with your own unique visual styles which would still feel at home with Windows XP. If you can do that, I think it will really impress people.
Very cool. I'm on mobile and on your projects page I couldn't scroll down to read the details of some projects. Otherwise worked well but I would double check.
Well it kinda feels like the optimal example of "if you cant make it good make it look good".
While, if the author reached its goal and is happy about it, thats fair and fine - tho for me as a former webdev looking at the source and how its build well it basically yells AI... and absolutly not in a good way....
If you really want to learn coding - put the AI aside and learn it by yourself. You may use AI to search for documentations and stuff, but dont try to learn coding style/sturcturing from it ... because its very bad at it.
We are learning. The thing about open access and giving access to those codes is so the knowledge is there, anyone can do it, use it for a reason, and hopefully they generate rewards for improvements people that are much better at coding than I will be able to fix and add on it never goes stale in 100 years the improvements are made .
While I'm sure this was fun to make, I think this site is a little tone-deaf, and I'd like to save you some time and frustration.
Clients hire graphic designers for unique and modern designs. I get that WinXP is retro these days, but WinOS is also the antithesis of good design. Hacker News will love it, but design industry folks won't. Especially all the clicks and delays it takes to get to your actual work (hint: bounce rate).
You're competing with a lot of designers right now, so you need to show your best work up front to stand out. Just like you, your clients need to grab attention and establish trust for their products and services, which is why they're spending money to hire a graphic designer.
Now that you've made this, archive it as a Personal Design Experiment and add it to your portfolio so it can still be discovered.
Then, remove the WinOS skin from your actual portfolio. Take visitors straight to your projects page: it should be your homepage.
In each project: show your work. It doesn't have to be perfect, 5-star design. Make it clear what you personally designed vs AI-designed, so they know what they're paying you for. Did you make sketches? Revisions? Show 'em. Not everything, just samples. With those, describe your thought process and work process. Demonstrate that working with you is a positive, efficient experience.
That's what will get you hired.
Finally, your work so far is sports oriented. You many want to make that your focus for now. Think about what a sports-designer portfolio should look like: bold, powerful, action-oriented graphics.
This is excellent, detailed, and does the job. Many of these comments are myopic and miss the point. This is better than the way most people would present their portfolio and it shows some creativity and thoughtful design. Especially if they've visited the rest of your portfolio.
I’m not phased by the comments at this point haha I take them all on board but I’d already considered the large majority of their points before I decided to go all in!
A graphic designer should be capable of designing an avatar for themselves instead of using AI slop that rips off Studio Ghibli. I closed the page as soon as I saw that.
Yeah for sure, I completely get it - I can genuinely understand the large majority of reasons people have for holding that opinion and I don't even necessarily disagree with many of them. I will admit, I do find it wildly entertaining and having the ability to turn an idea into something tangible almost instantly allows me to produce more high quality work.
Aside from personal opinions, I just think that it's pretty clear where the world's going and since money doesn't care about feelings - companies are going to use it. so I feel like it probably helps, or at least will start to help more and more as time goes on having it clear that I can and do use these AI tools they keep hearing about.
Recreations of Windows UX in a webpage have been done a million times and I've never heard of Microsoft suing them. I think they have better things to do.
Great job, well done. This really highlights that people who obsess in telling us that "AI hallucinates", and "AI isn't intelligent", are missing the point. At the end of the day, it's simply useful, and incredibly empowering.
> I started from zero knowledge and spent months collaborating with AI agents as a learning experience. Every pixel and every function went through me. The AI translated what I asked for into code, but every decision was human.
This is so absurdly cringe and absolutely not coding. It’s like saying I spent absolutely trying to get ChatGPT to write my college essay for me. At the end of the writing period, I wrote nothing but decided which ai goop I liked best.
Who's hiring a graphic designer based on a Windows XP aesthetic that they didn't even produce? Of course novelty. But then what. Not really promoting the graphic design side. Not really promoting the development site. Bizarre noob accounts here loving it.
If OP were a front end engineer or something I might agree, but this is a graphic design portfolio. I think it's completely reasonable to rely on outside assistance for the scripting and interactive stuff.
It’s neat: I like it a lot actually.
But the problem with you billing yourself as a graphic designer and reimplementing Windows XP is that you’re copying a design that already exists rather than showcasing your own design skills, so I can’t immediately tell how good a designer you are[0].
I can look at your projects under the IE icon, which gives more of an impression, but some of the visuals there do look decidedly AI generated, which isn’t super-encouraging.
The UX is also weird. For example, the back/forward history controls behave like carousel controls through your portfolio, whereas when I hit back/previous I expect to be taken back to the menu of projects.
If you applied to me for a job with this, would I interview you?
Yes, I would, simply because I can see you’ve put a lot of effort in and created something high quality. But I’d have some reservations because of the concerns I’ve raised above and, in particular, I’d want to dig in to how user-centred your approach is, because that isn’t really demonstrated here.
Sorry if this sounds discouraging. What you’ve done is cool, and I like it, and it would certainly get you a foot in the door of many interview processes, but that will be when the real work of showcasing your skills begins.
I hope that makes sense?
[0] Literally, I could do this, and I suck at design. It’s very similar to the process of implementing a design passed to me by a UX Designer, which I’ve done loads of times.
> Literally, I could do this, and I suck at design.
Are you sure about that? I've seen plenty of imitation XP interfaces in my day, and there are virtually always elements that are jarringly wrong. While I won't claim that MitchIvin XP is a faithful reproduction of XP, in the sense that one could compile a long list of inconsistencies with Windows XP, the experience is pleasant enough.
This was my concern too - as a little project, it's interesting but if it's a replica of XP it has been done before and much more accurately.
As a portfolio, I think it doesn't work at all and is detrimental to what you're trying to do. I think now in design, it is more important than ever for your work to cut through the noise and show at least some attempt to create something original.
I think sometimes graphic design is seen as competence with certain programs, which I guess includes genAI now, or making something cool - but really it is visual communication that responds to a set of constraints - e.g. a brief, tailored to a target audience, communicating a product or emotion. There are no shortcuts - study what has been done, work on communicating what you want to say with colour, layout, typography and images. Draw and paint; avoid genAI until you are competent without it. Currently as a graphic design portfolio, I'm sorry to say it is memorably bad and there is a lot of work to do.
That said, well done on finishing something, and making it to the top of HN. I hope the attention leads somewhere and that you continue making things.
I disagree with you, as it seems you tend to prioritize graphic design while overlooking other important aspects.
Personally, I find this idea alone to be very creative. Isn't a great designer someone who weaves together countless mediocre ideas to form a truly creative concept?
> Yes, I would, simply because I can see you’ve put a lot of effort in and created something high quality. But I’d have some reservations because of the concerns I’ve raised above and, in particular, I’d want to dig in to how user-centred your approach is, because that isn’t really demonstrated here.
Then the site satisfied its purpose. A portfolio site should get you an interview with someone who is curious to know more. Its purpose is to be a foot in the door, not to get you the job.
I would hire this guy he stands out from the competition! He has tenacity, grit and more creativity then the majority. So much more creativity that multi thousands of HN(ers) have enjoyed his creation, their friends and tech journalists who some will write about it showing his work to many more thousands to millions. Getting a job isnt easy now but being like this guy will no doubt make it easy to get many offers!
Ive been needing to update my portfolio site as in August an out of nowhere opportunity knocked on my door. Seeing this makes me want to innovate my portfolio for said opportunity(thanks for the inspiration).
Hey, copying someone's design is a talent itself. And this was quite a beautiful copy of a design. The "concerns" are mostly unanswered questions, or presumed limitations.
Well, not really. Graphic design isn’t art— it’s a communication strategy using text, images and layout to convey information to people — often purely visually with visual hierarchy, gestalt, color, etc. Lacking originality only really matters with branding, avoiding copyright infringement, or if existing cultural norms interfere with the message— like you’re obviously re-using something without deliberately making a reference to it as part of the message.
The much more important question for a graphic designer is: what exactly are you trying you communicate about yourself and your portfolio by invoking windows XP? Because right now, technical competence is about the closest I can get and I really don’t see the association. I think what they’re probably trying to do is evoke nostalgia among potential tech industry clients as a freelancer, and to be fair, the intended audience is always a big part of the equation.
If I was art directing, I probably wouldn’t bring them in for an interview — but I’ll bet they aren’t advertising themselves to art directors.
> Literally, I could do this
The classic refrain. Implementation is the easiest part of design work. It looks better than XP did, and it should— that’s one key skill that a designer should have. Nobody hiring a designer will care if they can accurately recreate the wonkiness of XP’s interface. And nobody is impressed that a developer can implement this because that’s a developer’s job. I’m genuinely impressed when a developer’s website has solid type design and a thoughtful informational hierarchy, but that’s not even the bare minimum required fora designer. Having done both, I think deciding exactly what goes on the screen/paper is the harder part. It takes longer and you’ve got a much more nebulous path to success.
nice gatekeeping
as if everything isn't just a copy of something else
> A faithful XP-inspired interface, custom-built to showcase my [...] attention to detail.
Here goes:
1. "Welcome" on the login screen should be lowercase
2. Balloon is too high (should touch the icon), close icon is too small (should be roughly the same height as the balloon title)
3. About Me is missing the scrollbar on Firefox
4. Wrong gradient for "Social Links"
5. Start menu should have a shadow
6. In My Projects, two tiles are loading forever
7. Windows that cannot be maximized, but can be minimized, should have all three buttons, with the middle one disabled
8. Paint did not have the Windows logo in the corner. It would be better to show the JSPaint menu bar to make things like Undo accessible, and the JSPaint authors deserve attribution.
9. "Git Co-pilot" is not a thing, as Git ≠ GitHub. (On the XP project page.)
If I were making something like this, I would probably skip the boot and login screens (certainly would not require user interaction; indeed, XP would automatically log you in if you had a single passwordless user), and show "About Me" on startup, so that potential clients don’t give up before they learn more about you.
no way, the boot and login screens add to the overall charm of the faithfulness of the reproduction, as much as does your attention to detail. In GUI applications one needs both aspects to enchant the user and keep them in a state of joyous disbelief -- without the disappointment -- as they use the system.
Also missed that double clicking the icon in the top left of the title bar closes the window. It does not toggle maximization like clicking the rest of the title bar does.
In general, it is even smoother than the real Windows XP. Kind of a magnetizing experience, and I do not know why. There is something attractive in this idea in terms of UI/UX, aside from the obvious nostalgia.
Another interesting aspect of this particular implementation is that it blends naturally with a browser tab hierarchy, it does not try to overrule it, it just blends in. Probably thanks to a distinctive taskbar, or maybe it is due to the startup screen/login/sound that set up a distinctive boundary "you are here now, and this is a friendly place to be".
> There is something attractive in this idea in terms of UI/UX
Very fast response time for the UI interactions. "Modern" UIs can have a few fast transitions but the overall interactions with the different components have a human noticeable lag that make them uneasy.
Windows (or anything) is nice when its fast. Most things should work in under 20ms so I don't notice a delay.
obviously the nostalgia is a huge factor but you might be onto something with the login sound haha. did you try logging out? :)
My thoughts exactly. I'm on macOS 26 Beta and this Windows XP felt like an upgrade. I think that's because it's simple, fast, intuitive and I know everything about how it works. Old Windows was also bad at multitasking due to single cpu core, which is better for the user to focus. In modern OS I have 20 windows open with hundreds of tabs, distributed over 6 different workspaces and 2 monitors. They all fly left to right with cool animations. I can't focus on anything.
hey haha I tried to post this a few weeks ago but my post didn't go through - i'm glad you guys are enjoying it!
edit: I'm new here! let me get some of that sweet sweet karma!
(I'm one of the mods here) - I've re-upped your original Show HN and merged the comments hither.
I've also marked your account legit so it won't get misassessed by those nasty spam filters in the future!
Really polished! And it really captures that windows XP aesthetic, but also the spirit of that aesthetic.
If Windows XP had had some kind of super professional “create a portfolio” app that would output an executable binary that you could download it would’ve been lauded as amazing and beautiful if it looked like what you created.
This is great. It shows your skills, but also brings back the beauty of Windows XP, in a contemporary but historically accurate format.
Cannot believe how well done this is! great work
For me, the start menu takes a couple of seconds to appear, and disappears again after a fraction of a second (Chrome 138 on Windows 10).
This is really well done. Excellent work!
>> let me get some of that sweet sweet karma!
You are going to be a wealthy man very soon now from all that karma.
Very enjoyable. Well done.
Beautiful work.
It’s interesting, I’ll give you that, but feels entirely like the wrong approach.
I opened the page before reading your post, and what immediately jumped out at me is that you say you’re a graphic designer but then you’re copying someone else’s old design which isn’t even that good.
The second thing I noticed was the obvious AI icon for the login, and that hovering on it makes it move weirdly. I haven’t used Windows XP in over two decades but don’t remember it doing that. It looks like an error.
At that point, I started losing confidence. You are supposed to be a graphic designer but are obviously using AI to design graphics and I assumed you would be doing the same for the code.
The resume as a fake PDF is cramped and zooming in feels like a poor solution.
Same thing with your projects, I can’t view them properly because they’re shoved in a tiny window for no reason. Plus, two of them are just loading animations, and it’s hard to understand if they’re broken or will ever load.
Then I finally read your post. You say you had no coding experience and used AI agents and “every decision was human”, but if you don’t know how to code, most of the decisions will have been made by the LLM even if you instructed it in particular ways. Do you feel confident regarding what you ostensibly learned and that you’d be able to reimplement most of the project yourself from scratch?
Again, it is interesting and a cool project, but it’s not particularly well-made or original¹ and I feel that as a portfolio actually does you a disservice by showcasing your skills in the worst possible light.
¹ https://win32.run
This isn't meant to critique you personally. Your post just sparked the thought. But it points to a deeper, systemic issue with AI collaboration in coding, design, writing, and beyond.
The core tension is between replication and creation. Yes, some things will always resemble what came before. A hard-boiled detective novel usually has a corpse or two, a bottle, and a wisecrack. But the artistry and work are in what you do with the formula. Take Les Roberts, for example. He wrote detective novels, sure, but he set them in Cleveland, gave them local color, and turned Northeast Ohio into a character. That's authorship. That's presence.
You can absolutely ask an AI to plot the story. But the soul, that point, is what you bring to it: the choices, the voice, the friction.
What gives me pause here is that I don't feel that presence. The project looks good, but it feels like Windows XP. Smooth, clean, and generic. I can't tell what this person's actual skills are. From the post, they clearly put in real time and effort. They learned something and got it working. But what I see is replication. Competent, yes. But flat, in my opinion.
If I were in their shoes, someone who would struggle to replicate this, I'd still treat that as step one.
Okay, I copied it. Now, what can I improve? What parts of the interface feel off? Where could I take a risk? Then, show the before and after.
So here's the long-winded point.
Why stop at imitation? Why not go further? Why not show that you can replicate something, build on it, shape it, and own it?
That's the more profound concern I have about AI collaboration. How do you show your work in a world of infinite templates and effortless iteration? How do you show your soul, or if you are too shy to bare your soul, at least a differentiator, that means you should be hired?
(I say this with the absolute irony that I used Grammarly to ensure this collection of words somewhat resembled a coherent thought. In the words of Dirty Harry, "A man has to know his limitations."[0]) ---
[0] Probably a misquote.
I think a clear recreation is a cool addition to a wider portfolio that also showcases some of the elements you mention.
Having one deeply extended project and one memorable clean recreation (it's getting upvotes, seems like a novel enough idea) is probably more unique than two mildly extended projects, if I were to hazard a guess into what people ripping through dozens of portfolios are thinking.
You are probably right that the portfolio needs to be rounded out though and that this project shouldn't stand alone.
I love this. As a former XP user, here are some pedantic inaccuracies you've got:
- The taskbar tabs are slightly off from how they looked in the real XP (must be the borders? It's the same issue with the windows as well).
- The close/maximize/minimize buttons never had hover transitions
- By default, desktop icons didn't have any hover effects in the real XP
- I'm surprised you didn't recreate the XP mouse cursor!
- IE6:
I think of this as a homage or appropriation, a gentle upgrade of classic Windows XP aesthetic into a form that merges a few contemporary affordances and new polish. It's a classic way of keeping art and styles fresh and how aesthetics evolve while retaining a clear lineage that respects their roots.
taskbar tabs - correct and I spent a crazy amount of time trying to figure out why they look off, admittedly I accepted defeat at where we landed but I think its pretty damn close!
the rest, are all aesthetic decisions haha but I was aware of some of them - I'm surprised you missed the biggest one of them all though.. also that nobody else has mentioned it yet - maybe its because nobody has tried it
the drag selection over desktop icons highlights the icons in a way much closer to windows 11 than XP... i really just thought it deserved an upgrade
edit: did i miss it or did you just add the thing about selection? you're right though
Pretty cool stuff.
Every time I see it, a part of me misses the styling of Windows XP. It was kind of the only well-regarded windows that tried to actually be fun; the fact that there was a little dog mascot in the search results, the fact that the bar on the bottom kind of looks like a Fisher Price toy, Clippy!
I kind of miss when professional programs were allowed to be goofy.
As a side note, I really like your avatar; has kind of a Simpsons/Bob's Burgers vibe that I find appealing.
aside from the frustration it's been pretty cool building it, its almost like im back in 2006
It's very cool, but I think two issues keep this from being truly delightful. First of all, it doesn't really feel like a computer, little things like typing "dir" in the command line could be a great little interaction, but it's not supported. I'd try to make it more fun to use and not just pretty to look at.
The other thing is, I think the portfolio doesn't really match the quality of the website you vibe coded. This is actually a pretty bad sign that your own work is not as good as something you can do with AI (human assisted or not). The website is pretty high quality, so browsing through extremely simple assets just feels out of place.
Overall it's a good project.
To me, the CRT effect looks like an early LCD (TFT panel) one. CRT monitors picture did not look like made of dots from what I can remember (maybe not for all monitors). Except maybe the Trinitron ones.
Great site, thanks for nostalgia!
you're probably right and I've actually had someone tell me that no monitor during the XP era would've been a CRT one haha so the whole things a bit off but I think people can let it slide
This is really nice work, and it does showcase your skills, ability to learn, persistence and attention to detail.
I disagree with others who complain that either the design was copied or a few little details are not exactly the same as the original – I don't think that's the point here.
Congrats!
Wow, this is cool!
You should open source this and let other people contribute and build apps that work inside this sim. I would love to build a version of our browser into this. (https://github.com/browseros-ai/BrowserOS)
This was so nostalgic... I really like it and I am very impressed by how well it performs. Regardless of wether the design is original or not if you implemented this from the ground up and used something else as inspiration this is still a clear showcase of your skills. I think this could be considered as the equivalent of looking on StackOverflow for backend programming solutions.
Congrats!
This is wonderful. You should be proud. It's a fun recreation and it was fun to use. Back when I was using XP (2004-2010), I had a 19" black CRT monitor. Once I got a laptop, it became a second monitor. I got whatever the family didn't want and the few things I scrounged from used computer stores. In 2010, I jumped to Windows 7. The theming of Windows XP always reminds me of seeing it for the first time, how colourful and inviting it looked.
if they remember the site, they'll remember me :) kinda?
This is really good. I’ve seen recreations before but the attention to detail made this delightful to use. Agree with some of the other points that you’re recreating a design that already exists but it’s evident you spent some effort on this even with the help of AI (which was disclosed in the AUTHOR command in command prompt, thank you!)
"AI agents " I KNEW something was up with it. Wrap it up.
its nice and warm in here, come on.. join us
This is amazing! Really enjoyed the trip down memory lane.
It would be wonderful if you could also share or write a post about your vibe coding journey to put this together!
just like the site itself, I'm slowly trying to piece something together in a coherent way when the process itself was the complete opposite. When I do figure it out I'll do a post/series of posts on LinkedIn most likely. there's a few posts already on there about it, but nothing super in-depth
im open to all connections btw :) i'm just getting started!
I'd love to see that command line working for some Easter eggs.
hit me with some idea's. in terms of novelty ideas ive thought maybe unlocking extra songs in the music player, or opening a different version of my projects that looks like it should (internet explorer) showing my wow logs or something lame hahah just some for the ones who would respect it
No right-click menus anywhere. How am I supposed to Lock The Taskbar? (As seen in https://madeupandprobablydoesnotexist.com/taskbar/)
i've been putting together a list of things for the right click menu, thanks for that one.
This made me immediately want to play Age of Empires and drink a Mountain Dew. Well done sir.
do it!
Feature request, very nitpicky: currently there is a grid overlay that simulates display pixels; but the content behind it is high resolution - as a result one “pixel” consists of multiple colors, which can break the illusion; this is especially visible when scrolling text. Perhaps there’s a way to render actual content in low resolution too, to match the grid resolution? E.g. set the css width&height of an element to 50% and upscale 2x via css scale transform (although filtering could be a problem), or render to a canvas and upscale there, or use html gl, or maybe there’s another way?
It looks good. As others have flagged up there are a few inaccuracies, but I noped out of Windows about the time XP came out (mainly due to the product activation stuff), so I couldn't itemize those in detail.
These kind of projects are fun to do, but as a showcase of your design skills... ehhhh? There are a few things that have your original design, like your résumé and such. Something like this is a much better showcase of your front-end coding skills, but you've delegated much of that to AI.
My advice: if you want to show off your programming skills, learn how to do it on your own. Don't do Windows XP right off the bat. Start with something simple. Make an Amiga "boing ball" bounce around the screen or something. Then tackle more complex challenges. It's not just about arriving at a finished product. By crafting something yourself, without machine assistance, you develop a better feel for what should be in the finished product and what shouldn't.
(It's OK to use dumb code generators to automate repetitive tasks, transpilers, etc. But there's a feel for when and how to use those as well.)
Interesting that you vibe coded the whole thing.
I don't think it counts as vibe coding, since the author read every line of code and presumably also asked questions about them and looked things up about the meanings of unfamiliar keywords and functions and so on.
It might be spiritually close to vibe coding in some ways because the author wasn't previously a programmer, so this code was never reviewed by a professional or trained developer.
But it was a high-effort project that involved inspecting and trying to understand the code, which isn't what vibe coding is about.
Whatever we want to call it, I think it's awesome! This is a good use of LLMs to help laypeople break into writing code imo, and the result is great.
He said it took months, so perhaps we need to coin a new term for it. Maybe AI crawling?
You got this far have DIR print something!
I was so proud of myself for remembering it’s DIR and not ls. But at least `help` worked.
Arguably the most familiar desktop user interface on the planet. I often wonder why complex web apps do not use this searchable start menu format.
i've got no statistics to back it but I'd bet my life savings on it being exactly that (its $0, but still)
The paint app is very accurate. Kinda shocking really.
that is something I cannot take credit for - https://jspaint.app/#local:58ec4c22cf9878
I just had to make some small changes so it would blend in better with my site
In my head, I heard videogamedunkey saying: “Ohhh... they've got the original paint on this one! I didn’t know this was a slick-type website!”
Oh my Paint doesn't work. New button is disabled. Maybe because I use Safari and Steve Jobs disabled it on purpose.
This works incredibly well on mobile too. Awesome job
thank you!
This is super cool, I’m really impressed by how well it works on mobile, it feels very strange to be “using” windows on a phone but the whole experience is very smooth
> Every pixel and every function went through me. The AI translated what I asked for into code, but every decision was human.
You'll find that programmers are a lot less prickly when you use AI to generate code, than say artists are, when you use it to generate pictures. You don't have to defend yourself, it's OK to use it to make cool things that you couldn't otherwise.
You should be aware though that even though it may "feel like magic" when just getting started, there's an upper limit to the complexity of what you can build with AI-generated code - it's very low quality and will start falling apart once you stack a lot of it. For the same reason I wouldn't recommend using it as a learning resource, if you really want to get into programming.
Congrats on this milestone. can it run games. what if yo host games remotely and launch them using this application?
It looks great the application section was a little lacking. Add minesweeper or defrag or any number of the pre installed pieces like file explorer and get more creative.
Its a lot of work setting everything you have up spend sometime on more details / applications
Wow, this reminds me of how Windows XP was such a beautiful UI.
UI these days are flat everything and pretty boring.
It’s very neat but I’m sorry, you can’t advertise yourself as a designer while prominently showcasing very obviously AI-generated graphics. The wallpaper and the avatar immediately undermine everything else, I can’t take you seriously seeing those
Looks and feels solid. Only issue I noticed off the bat is that scrolling isn't working in Chrome on Android. Also, idk if it's an issue with mobile Chrome but the address bar doesn't drop down.
Will check out the chrome scrolling on android, is that in the my projects app?
Sadly the address bar does not drop down haha Maybe one day
This is cool! I like how you can toggle the pixel effect. A lot of great attention to detail.
personally, I prefer it on but I'd had some complaints and it does have some impact on performance so better to give the choice, right?
I miss the Windows XP look & feel so, so much.
Would be cool if the contact you page let me send you an email from your site itself instead of trying to launch my default mail app. I typed out an email and filled in my email but it tried to launch mail app when I tried to send it.
yeah I would also love to get that working - at one point that was the plan but things changed. It's something i'll look into updated, thanks for the suggestion.
btw, if you let your mail app open - whatever you typed into my contact me app will be pre-filled in a new message ready to send
Wow. Beyond anything, my main take away is *do not try to mimic [wW]indows [xX][pP] in any way*. I will never ever ever get it right enough. Stick to Windows 95 or earlier.
This looks and feels really good, nice work.
Makes me wonder what windows mobile could have been
cease and desist followed by the announcement of windows on mobile any day now
Really neat! I made one a few years ago too, it still is online (but not updated) https://melkael.github.io/
Delightful.The XP vibe is spot on, the startup sound and taskbar feel right.
it's all about the feels
Looks great on mobile! I think it’s awesome. But I’d change the avatar to something more XP like and less Simpson-esque that has a less obvious GPT designed feel to it.
haha yeah I’ll get around to it eventually, it’s clearly a pain point for many - it’s really just not a huge deal for me
This is awesome, I found a tiny bug. On mobile, if I open CMD and the keyboard opens, the browser thinks I'm in landscape and blocks the UI till I close the keyboard.
noted, thanks - which device do you have if you dont mind me asking?
Really cool.
Only bug I noticed was that the command line output doesn’t scroll. This was on my iPhone with the keyboard up as I was typing commands and press return.
Oh interesting, that’s not intentional but it might be something I just hadn’t considered - does it scroll again after the keyboard is hidden?
Really cool! Added to my collection of personal websites @ https://personal.network/
Skip the scanlines, makes everything blurry on my sharp display.
https://windows96.net
Where is the doom demo launcher?
https://github.com/cloudflare/doom-wasm
=3
I love the 'recently used' in the start menu.
thanks!
Windows didn't fade in and out in Windows XP.
Looks great, but you probably don't want to be serving copyrighted music mp3s directly from your site: e.g. https://mitchivin.com/assets/apps/musicPlayer/audio/song2.mp...
Any reason I get downvoted for this?
The mobile experience is really well done too!
What was the worst part of the Win32 API to implement? Offhand I'm guessing CreateToolhelp32Snapshot or StretchBlt.
Consider using the display/monitor icon in tray to manage CRT effect on/off instead of the Windows Defender icon.
fair call! the CRT toggle was fairly recent in comparison to the full screen toggle so it was a case of seniority haha but I'm at the point now were I can spend time on things like that and the icons will be getting a refresh at some stage so i'll remember this.
thanks
Looking at your resume, I am curious how you are intimately familiar with XP. Seems like it should be before your time.
It should be based on my resume, you're right haha - a peak behind the curtain reveals a decade of struggles finding my place in the world before saying fuck it and following my gut. I'm 30, whoooops - if you do the math on my graduation you should be able to get there, not hiding it - but didn't want to shout it from the rooftops either haha
I salute your tenacity.
it can't be understated, truly - people would think im insane
My mobile device is a square aspect ratio and thus there is no portrait mode to check this out :(
I will get around to it, sorry! Thanks for letting me know
Weird, what phone?
How often does that aspect ratio ruin things?
> Apart from basic libraries like xp.css and paint.js, it's all original code.
I wouldn't say this constitutes "original code". AI agents are trained on open-source software; to apply them and present this project as your own work is misleading.
I've seen a lot of similar projects, but never ones that worked well on mobile, and this one works perfectly, quite impressive.
That said, I wonder if it makes sense for a graphic designer to have a portfolio with a design that just copies someone else's (Microsoft's)?
Wasted opportunity: shut down -> orange "now it's safe to turn off your computer"
Wasn't that just Windows 95 and 98? I think I remember XP having the Windows logo and the "It is now safe to turn off your computer" text in white.
Wait! Was your score big for LIGR? Also hi from someone who comes from Brizzy! (SF now)
Love this! The nostalgia hit hard, I immediately felt the urge to play Raft Wars on Miniclip
I wonder if im doing some psychology trick on recruiters, they love windows xp = they love my site = they love me = they hire me? right.. right?!
Works very smoothly on my phone
love to hear it :)
This reminds me a of a very faithful (in browser) recreation of Windows XP I stumbled upon recently, may've even been on HN:
https://win32.run/
Good times.
I love the little things, like the paint program and music player. This was so fun.
Windows XP is an emotion for me. You have rekindled the memories of 2005 .
The mobile experience was actually really good. Pleasantly surprised.
There’s even a command line where you can run commands, that’s really nice!
Extreme nitpick, but the progress bar animation on bootup was stepped, IIRC.
the site is built on extreme nitpicking my friend, its welcomed and encouraged. I'll look into it!
Love that the hidden 10x zoom in Paint is there and works :).
very cool !
On my dell XPS13 (Windows) the high DPI scaling makes the page display "please rotate your device back to portrait mode" . If I zoom out a few steps (ctrl-minus in the browser), it loads fine.
thanks for letting me know! i've had someone else mention that it didnt work on folding devices, but considering i've never even held one this makes more sense to me so ill look into it
I don't understand the claim, is it recreating the actual operating system and kernel, and it can run and install programs like an emulator? Or is it just superficially the UI?
purely UI - HTML, CSS, JS
Get rid of the AI profile picture. Just use the picture on your resume! That AI one means a good chunk of people will hate this website before they even click your name to "login" due to their own preexisting biases. As an artist myself I'm not happy about how AI companies have shamelessly plagiarized people's work. The fact you're using the same Studio Ghibli style everyone else is using just feels unoriginal. Whether employers would care is another story entirely.
Others have left good feedback regarding the UI inconsistencies that you should address.
If you really want this to reflect on your abilities as a graphic designer, you should make this "themeable." XP had multiple visual styles - there were variants of Luna, as well as the Royale theme that came with Media Center Edition, and other themes like the Zune theme. There were also numerous third-party user-created themes you could download and use (if you installed a dll patch).
You should consider adding a few of the standard themes - at the very least the silver, olive, and royale themes. But more importantly, you should make your own themes, and add them as options as well. Open up a dialog similar to XP's "Appearance" dialog on first run so users instantly know they will have that option.
It's great if you can recreate a user interface... but anyone can do that and many already have. What matters more is how you can build on the UI while remaining true to its design language and interaction paradigms. What uniqueness can you add to the UI?
Here are some links for inspiration:
- One example of this sort of thing is https://macthemes.garden/, which has thousands of Mac OS 8/9 themes.
- Here's the wikipedia article that goes over the first party XP themes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP_visual_styles
- For examples of XP third party themes... I don't know any good websites off the top of my head but DeviantArt has had lots of 3rd party themes and style assets uploaded to it over the years (for both Windows and macOS): https://www.deviantart.com/search?q=windows+xp+themes
Use these as inspiration and come up with your own unique visual styles which would still feel at home with Windows XP. If you can do that, I think it will really impress people.
That CRT effect is dope. It's amazing it's even possible.
fun fact: this whole journey started because of that effect. I had that and was trying to think how I could use it haha
Very cool. I'm on mobile and on your projects page I couldn't scroll down to read the details of some projects. Otherwise worked well but I would double check.
Noted, thanks for letting me know - do you mind telling me which device /browser you’re using
Great job! Working on mobile is really a nice touch!
thank you!
I can tell this was a ton of work, and a ton of fun. Congrats!
thank you!
I think it’s the best portfolio I ever seen! Loves it!!!
Give this man a job! (If he doesn't have one already)
I might have to re-elevate the goals after this haha, I thought it was cool personally but truly didn't expect this kind of reaction
Author looks shirtless in the avatar photo.
"Dyanamic" typo.
otherwise, cool, nice, great work!
fixed the typo! thanks
At this point do you even need a portfolio? You can already build amazing software, why not create your own startup?
Not everyone wants to be an entrepreneur
When I started building this I needed any design job more than I can explain haha
One thing that immediately popped up was how much nicer Windows XP looks compared to the current OS UIs...
Wow! Seriously, well done! I love it.
Thanks so much mate, appreciate the kind words
Wow, really enjoyed clicking trough it. Super smoooth. Lots of attention to detail. Excellent. Well done mate.
thanks dude!
I've gotten so used to instant loading operating systems, I've forgotten about those loading screens.
Very cool. There's an impressive number of little details. My favourite is that the Paint app actually works.
Vyvanse is a hell of a drug
Well it kinda feels like the optimal example of "if you cant make it good make it look good".
While, if the author reached its goal and is happy about it, thats fair and fine - tho for me as a former webdev looking at the source and how its build well it basically yells AI... and absolutly not in a good way....
If you really want to learn coding - put the AI aside and learn it by yourself. You may use AI to search for documentations and stuff, but dont try to learn coding style/sturcturing from it ... because its very bad at it.
We are learning. The thing about open access and giving access to those codes is so the knowledge is there, anyone can do it, use it for a reason, and hopefully they generate rewards for improvements people that are much better at coding than I will be able to fix and add on it never goes stale in 100 years the improvements are made .
Great portfolio site.
Now try windows93 [0]
enjoy.
[0] https://www.windows93.net
Holy shit!
While I'm sure this was fun to make, I think this site is a little tone-deaf, and I'd like to save you some time and frustration.
Clients hire graphic designers for unique and modern designs. I get that WinXP is retro these days, but WinOS is also the antithesis of good design. Hacker News will love it, but design industry folks won't. Especially all the clicks and delays it takes to get to your actual work (hint: bounce rate).
You're competing with a lot of designers right now, so you need to show your best work up front to stand out. Just like you, your clients need to grab attention and establish trust for their products and services, which is why they're spending money to hire a graphic designer.
Now that you've made this, archive it as a Personal Design Experiment and add it to your portfolio so it can still be discovered.
Then, remove the WinOS skin from your actual portfolio. Take visitors straight to your projects page: it should be your homepage.
In each project: show your work. It doesn't have to be perfect, 5-star design. Make it clear what you personally designed vs AI-designed, so they know what they're paying you for. Did you make sketches? Revisions? Show 'em. Not everything, just samples. With those, describe your thought process and work process. Demonstrate that working with you is a positive, efficient experience.
That's what will get you hired.
Finally, your work so far is sports oriented. You many want to make that your focus for now. Think about what a sports-designer portfolio should look like: bold, powerful, action-oriented graphics.
Mind Your Manners brought back some seriously nostalgic memories. Thank you!
It'll defintely be in my MitchIvinXP Wrapped this year
Phenomenal work. Excellent!
thank you so much
This is so damn cool! I love that you have MS Paint too xD
This is excellent, detailed, and does the job. Many of these comments are myopic and miss the point. This is better than the way most people would present their portfolio and it shows some creativity and thoughtful design. Especially if they've visited the rest of your portfolio.
Good job, OP. Stay away from the haters.
Thanks boss! Appreciate the kind words.
I’m not phased by the comments at this point haha I take them all on board but I’d already considered the large majority of their points before I decided to go all in!
The people that get it, get it
Good stuff! Desktop environments are so much fun to make.
totally blown away when paint worked
:)
Absolutely brilliant.
Thank you!
you sir are an absolute mad lad! kudos.
man, fix the typos. Dyanamic.
otherwise, fun, great, keep going!
it took me way too long to find but i've 'fixed' it haha, thanks!
This is amazing!
Thanks mate!
The "recently used" part was clever :)
This gives me so much joy. Well done!!
A graphic designer should be capable of designing an avatar for themselves instead of using AI slop that rips off Studio Ghibli. I closed the page as soon as I saw that.
hey i saw this a while ago on /r/vibecoding . Looks even better now .
thanks dude!
Quite honestly, super cool! Telling that you probably managed to wield AI tools quite well if you managed to get this far with it.
Only pet peeve I have is with the obvious AI generated art (including the wallpaper?) — still can't get onboard with them.
It was definitely a long fought battle haha
Yeah for sure, I completely get it - I can genuinely understand the large majority of reasons people have for holding that opinion and I don't even necessarily disagree with many of them. I will admit, I do find it wildly entertaining and having the ability to turn an idea into something tangible almost instantly allows me to produce more high quality work.
Aside from personal opinions, I just think that it's pretty clear where the world's going and since money doesn't care about feelings - companies are going to use it. so I feel like it probably helps, or at least will start to help more and more as time goes on having it clear that I can and do use these AI tools they keep hearing about.
Great work
Did you ask Microsoft permission to use logo/branding etc. Or are you ready to be sued?
Recreations of Windows UX in a webpage have been done a million times and I've never heard of Microsoft suing them. I think they have better things to do.
pretty badass sir! cheers!
thanks boss!
No offense, maybe I am jaded by our environment, but this reads like an ai ad….
Amazing work!
this is sick
pretty badass sir...cheers to you.
Very cool
Wow. You are going places, Mitch. Epic design skills. Listening to Unwritten and loading up that email form… can’t wait to see what you build.
thank you so much for the kind words, appreciate it more than you probably realize :)
I need to right-click and refresh the desktop, please.
If I glance over at my TODO's its pretty close to next on the list - stay tuned
No minesweeper?! I’m severely disappointed.
it's on my list!
Great job, well done. This really highlights that people who obsess in telling us that "AI hallucinates", and "AI isn't intelligent", are missing the point. At the end of the day, it's simply useful, and incredibly empowering.
thanks mate haha yeah I stay out of those convos
now we need windows 3.1
This shit is fucking awsome!
Thanks boss!
> I started from zero knowledge and spent months collaborating with AI agents as a learning experience. Every pixel and every function went through me. The AI translated what I asked for into code, but every decision was human.
This is so absurdly cringe and absolutely not coding. It’s like saying I spent absolutely trying to get ChatGPT to write my college essay for me. At the end of the writing period, I wrote nothing but decided which ai goop I liked best.
+1
Who's hiring a graphic designer based on a Windows XP aesthetic that they didn't even produce? Of course novelty. But then what. Not really promoting the graphic design side. Not really promoting the development site. Bizarre noob accounts here loving it.
He cooked. (But not really) And we're all cooked.
If OP were a front end engineer or something I might agree, but this is a graphic design portfolio. I think it's completely reasonable to rely on outside assistance for the scripting and interactive stuff.