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Show HN: My Windows XP portfolio with working Game Boy and iPod(mitchivin.com)
30 points by mitchivin 2 hours ago | 13 comments

I posted my portfolio here about a year ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45154609) and while there was a big response, it was very mixed! It'll probably be similar this time, but regardless of your thoughts about the concept, I think I've done a pretty good job creating one of the most nostalgic corners of the internet, especially with the latest additions.

It'll always be up for debate whether this is an effective way to get noticed as opposed to a standard, quick and easy portfolio, but I'll die on the hill that this is way more fun for both parties, every day of the week.

superdisk 5 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Not to criticize your work too harshly, but you specifically call out that this showcases attention to detail, and it's actually very inaccurate to the actual Windows XP, for anyone who's ever used it before. The UI elements are all haphazardly sized relative to each other, there are alpha-fade ins/outs, the loading bar in the boot screen animates smoothly when the real thing popped along block-by-block, fonts are antialiased when they shouldn't be, hover-over dropdown menus appear/disappear instantly when moused over, the fake scanlines are just a pixel grid overlay, the selection box on the desktop is filled but should be a dotted outline... these are just the few I saw and I haven't used XP in years.

tmp32736 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I love it. But I'm missing the Game Boy cheat code to unlock the goodies...

mitchivin 44 minutes ago | parent [-]

check the bar above the gameboy when it asks you for the code :)

bartread an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I mean... I like it. I remember your post from last time where, apparently, I got the top comment.

It looks like you've dealt with the UX issues I ran into previously (e.g., back/forward behaviour), but I did almost immediately spot a different oddity in your portfolio...

When you click on "My Projects" and then use the left nav to switch between "All", "Image", "Web", etc., it highlights the relevant projects rather than filtering out the irrelevant projects... which does feel a bit weird. I guess I understand it give you only have four projects in there but that's perhaps the other issue: I'd really like to see more projects than you're showing off here.

But, I mean, I still like it - I really like it. It's a lot more characterful than the vast majority of other portfolios I've seen and the attention to detail is very strong overall.

Again, something I said last time that I'll repeat here: if you were applying for a design or UX role with this I'd certainly interview you. I'd have to be unhinged not to.

(And, FWIW, I thought I gave you fairly balanced feedback, but clearly managed to piss a few people off so maybe, again, we'll both be in for another roasting - or at least a rather mixed bag of comments. Regardless, I wish you the absolute best.)

mitchivin an hour ago | parent [-]

haha welcome back, your feedback last time was 100% fair and balanced - I used it along with the other comments in that thread to resolve the issues I felt deserved attention and the things you mentioned fell into that category, so I appreciate it!

in regards to the new my projects bug, thats honestly something I noticed myself just recently too and its a result of changing which projects I have up. at one point they all had at least 1 project they were filtering - that is something I will be sorting out!

Im getting back to fleshing out the projects now, I've been spending time working on some other stuff - i needed a break after the amount of time that went into this originally haha. but im aiming to circle back now and polish up/add to the copy/projects

haha! Im fully prepared for some roasts but this time i'm 9 months more experienced in dealing with it. Thanks so much for the thoughtful feedback, I really appreciate it and its even better coming from someone who saw the original version.

freshnode 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

You've nailed the feel. Ignore the nay sayers!

mitchivin 2 hours ago | parent [-]

thanks mate! it was countless hours of obession & frustration back in the days of Sonnet 3.5

For sure! Im a big advocate for anything outside the box haha

po1nt an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

That Windows XP loading bar brings me back. Great job.

mitchivin an hour ago | parent [-]

thanks boss!

andai 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Awesome. Props for the iPod clickwheel. I miss my Classic!

mitchivin 2 hours ago | parent [-]

haha thanks! turns out it isn't as easy as searching for a standard audio file for the sound (being a machine sound i guess/think?) so I had to find someone doing ASMR and cut it up hahah

iJohnDoe 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

So friggin’ cool. I think it’s really fun and when you can instantly entice people to click around and explore then you have already succeeded.

mitchivin 2 hours ago | parent [-]

That was the idea! I can't stand here and say that it's made me completely stable in my freelance career but it defintely got some eyeball's on me that would have no clue who I otherwise was