Explore Wikipedia Like a Windows XP Desktop (explorer.samismith.com)

118 points by smusamashah 2 hours ago

31 comments:

by hliyan 15 minutes ago

Incredibly beautiful, possibly because it maps so well to the mental model we typically use to organize knowledge in our heads. I don't know how we lost the folder/container vs. document/content iconography, and other things (like layout of items, sorting) during the shift to web applications.

by sznio 7 minutes ago

I guess this model doesn't maximize engagement

by tigerlily 2 minutes ago

Oh wow, to me the history section feels like Civilopedia (in a good way). I can't explain why.

by dunderd a minute ago

Very cool!

by dewey an hour ago

The shininess looks a bit more like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP_Media_Center_Editio... and not like the regular Windows XP, but still a fun project!

by crabmusket 43 minutes ago

Where does the hierarchical classification come from?

by boshomi 17 minutes ago
by koolala 7 minutes ago

trying to find what folder has Дэбі робіць Даляс

by pixlmint 41 minutes ago

Such a cool project! Now it's just missing search and a request for donations

by emil-lp 31 minutes ago

It's also missing the defrag tool. Without it, it's going to be very slow as the disk fills up.

Should put a shortcut to it on the desktop as well, so that users who experience significant lag can defrag at will.

by steveharing1 25 minutes ago

What a beautiful nostalgic feeling. Keep up the good work! Worth adding some start menu options as well.

by kramit1288 32 minutes ago

This looks really cool. feels nostalgic. it would be more fun if it can be switched into whatever desktop mode i want like unix.

by angilr an hour ago

It is nice. I randomly click on something interest just appear in my mind and lead to this: life -> death -> last_words -> More milk. But I can't find it on Wiki. I search More milk. and the first result is this page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Michael_Jackson. Hmm, why is the name different?

by flexagoon an hour ago

"More milk" is a redirect to that page

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=More_milk.&redire...

The "Windows XP" website displays the same article when you click on "More milk" there

by angilr an hour ago

Wow, do you know what is the relationship between More milk and the death of MJ?

by Kwpolska an hour ago

The Wikipedia article does:

> After several hours and several drug injections, Jackson was still unable to fall asleep, and, according to Murray, was repeatedly asking him for "milk", a nickname for the powerful surgical general anesthetic propofol, which Jackson had used in the past as a sleep aid. At 10:40 a.m., with Jackson still not asleep, Murray relented to his requests and injected him with 25 milligrams of propofol diluted with lidocaine. With Jackson finally asleep, Murray testified that he left his bedside to go to the bathroom, and after returning two minutes later, discovered that Jackson was not breathing and had a weak pulse.

by angilr an hour ago

Thanks! TIL that Propofol has a nickname "Milk of amnesia". MJ asked more milk which meant more propofol.

by pratio 16 minutes ago

Here's Robin Williams describing it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOIBBE3ObRY

He calls taking propofol for sleep as Having chemotherapy because you're tired of shaving your head

by Eonexus 19 minutes ago

This is just beautiful. I wonder if this could turn into different styles, like that of a book, or a cabinet?

by sagacity an hour ago

This is genuinely a really fun way to browse Wikipedia. Only drawback is that folder names that contain ellipsis don't show the full name when clicked.

by arnon 24 minutes ago

make it look like encarta 95 and you'll have a REAL winner on your hands

by hnlmorg 24 minutes ago

I guess appearance is subjective because I always considered XP to be the ugliest Windows ever released.

by unrvl22 an hour ago

love how it loads instantly and feels smooth. imo useless but still cool

by kristianp 5 minutes ago

> love how it loads instantly and feels smooth.

Unlike Wikipedia these days.

by senfiaj 20 minutes ago

I guess XP (x64) could run like this on modern PCs.

by dolmen an hour ago

Yes. It definitely lacks the hourglass mouse cursor experience!

by jdw64 an hour ago

Seeing the Windows XP theme I loved the most really brings back a wave of nostalgia

by macwhisperer an hour ago

pretty cool! needs the search function to work tho to be useful

by DeathArrow 19 minutes ago

Well, it should also have Solitaire and Minesweeper. :)

by redox99 an hour ago

Is there a reason why it looks like Temu's Windows XP? Copyright concerns I guess?

by sunaookami 28 minutes ago

Because it's obviously vibe coded (look at the source code).

Data from: Hacker News, provided by Hacker News (unofficial) API