The motivation behind digital nostalgia is hard to explain. It's simply that, at least in North America and Europe, nostalgia can be seen as something that we have wanted and needed for a long time now; something that is now easily accessible to us through various technology platforms. While younger generations might not know what it is or why we think about it, some older generations do understand that there were certain aspects of previous technology we should have retained.

If you visit online forums dedicated to discussion of web design, you may have noticed that many topics center on projects that evoke user interface nostalgia. Two recent examples of this trend come from React.JS developers who decided to make their personal websites look like Windows 95 and old versions of the Ubuntu Linux distribution. When explaining their reasons for going retro with their projects, both designers agree that the rudimentary user interfaces of older operating systems provide a better user experience.

What is even more interesting about this retro web design trend is that younger developers seem to be the most drawn to it, and the reasons are purely aesthetic. No one really wants to revisit the terrible user experience of Windows 98 or Windows ME, at least not as operating systems. What young web designers really appreciate is the way things look, particularly with regard to skeumorphism. Take Microsoft Bob, for example, an operating system that transformed Windows into a playful experience, and where the interactive wallpaper or desktop background resembled the interior of a house.

Compare MS Bob and its straightforward icons to the placeholder boxes and labels without textures of Google's own Material Design. Compare the Windows 10 desktop to the gorgeous Poolside.fm website, which happens to recreate an old Mac operating system experience. Functional elements seemed to jump off the boxy CRT monitors; furthermore, they were well-designed and highly attractive. Everything looks flat now, and the OS workflows consume insane amounts of computing resources. No wonder kids these days yearn for the days when computers looked neat even though they took forever to boot up and shut down. For more information click here https://ash.ms/2019-10-02/retro-website-launch/.