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321 points IroncladDev | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0.494s | source
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rollcat ◴[] No.43670593[source]
I don't understand the obsession with 1980s terminals. They're even less powerful than the contemporary 8-bit home computers. It's perfectly OK to be a retro enthusiast, it's another thing to claim that this is the peak tech to power our modern CLIs, or a solid foundation for portable UIs.

From the docs:

    Stop thinking in standard CSS units like px, em, rem, %
    Start thinking in Character Cells for spacing, sizing, and positioning
A VT102 already has a character grid, but it needs a serial protocol to allow applications on the mainframe to talk to it. You can loop around this and use the raw mode to address individual cells.

The web browser has an insanely powerful typographic and layout engine. Now we're looping back into character cells. Something went wrong here, at least once.

That said, I like the aesthetic and the default color palette. It's quirky, but it has its places.

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sgt ◴[] No.43673068[source]
Occasionally when you see someone using a point of sale terminal that is terminal based, the operator usually flies through the interface like it's nothing.

So there's something to be said about those types of interfaces - it may look simple and be text based, but it's the most user friendly for the qualified operator to get things done.

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pjmlp ◴[] No.43673184[source]
I see the same on any graphical one on the supermarkets and restaurants.

Maybe it is a matter to actually design for the customers use case.

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1. __float ◴[] No.43673350[source]
Modern GUI apps tend not to design for the keyboard-wielding power user.

TUIs can have just as many quirks and bugs, but on the whole they tend to be a little simpler, and the author usually is an end-user :-)

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2. pjmlp ◴[] No.43673977[source]
Someone is responsible for developing them.