I have tried before to recreate the 95 UI in CSS. I didn't release the results but I was quite happy with what I managed. Honestly, I should probably contribute to these projects.
Annoyingly, certain parts of the Windows UI cannot be recreated with just HTML and CSS. One of these is how focusing works. I don't know what the proper names for it are, but Windows has two kinds of focus:
• Dotted line (or flashing cursor for text boxes). If you press space bar, something will happen with this element.
• Black outline around the outside. If you press Enter, this button's action will be triggered. This is why the OK button in a typical Windows dialogue box looks different to the Cancel button. I don't remember what this looks like in XP but I think it uses a thicker blue border.
However, the browser only really has the former kind of focus — even for HTML buttons in Internet Explorer on Windows 95! So if you want a full Windows-like look and experience, you need some JavaScript to emulate the second. I notice that XP.css lacks this kind of focus, and I think that's why it feels like something is missing from the buttons.
The first kind is the input focus and the second kind is the default button in a dialog (not really a kind of focus): "If the button is in a dialog box, the user can select the button by pressing the ENTER key, even when the button does not have the input focus."[1]
Yeah, there are definitely some non-obvious details in its behavior. The default button focus moves with the input focus to other buttons but reverts to the default default button if you focus another kind of control. Raymond Chen has an explanation:
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20040802-00/?p=38...
Annoyingly, certain parts of the Windows UI cannot be recreated with just HTML and CSS. One of these is how focusing works. I don't know what the proper names for it are, but Windows has two kinds of focus:
• Dotted line (or flashing cursor for text boxes). If you press space bar, something will happen with this element.
• Black outline around the outside. If you press Enter, this button's action will be triggered. This is why the OK button in a typical Windows dialogue box looks different to the Cancel button. I don't remember what this looks like in XP but I think it uses a thicker blue border.
However, the browser only really has the former kind of focus — even for HTML buttons in Internet Explorer on Windows 95! So if you want a full Windows-like look and experience, you need some JavaScript to emulate the second. I notice that XP.css lacks this kind of focus, and I think that's why it feels like something is missing from the buttons.