The biggest problem with retro web design is trying to make your retro design fit into the parameters of modern web design. Right now we are mostly being reduced to 1, 2 & 3 column layouts or templates and its been this way for the last 10 years or so. Website uniforms focus on accessibility and responsiveness. Interactivity didn’t stick around too long, if you remember. Consequently, most of us don’t know anything different and those of us who do are just too old to give a fuck. We’ve moved on to other shit.
This site, for example, was designed to have 3 layers; the background panel, a click here panel that hides the planets and links until you click here and then the planets and links themselves with a blue mouse over glow effect. The irony is that this design looked good on paper but ran into unforeseen issues in coding, especially since it originally had too many layers and functions like a small moving display, mp3 player and mouse over images. Innovation often comes with the risk that you might not be able to see your design through due to frameworks that box you into clean and scalable; when the goal is nostalgic.
It seems that you rarely get originality unless you use js, which comes with a lot of complications. It’s now, for one, undermined by mobile view; which we didn't have back in the day. Either you comply or your site will not work on mobile. Number 2; some users disable js for privacy or security issues, which threatens to alienate this viewership unless the site is optimized. Number 3; js sites can sometimes also be difficult to edit because you have to locate the right file among several. This site design is stuck in the middle, so what you see here is an alternate version of the original.
Ugh...I swear we’re on the fast track to no where sometimes, but modern web standards have stifled the experimental nature of old school web design. The current going rate of design punishes creativity and tools like js have their own set of compromises. This site stands as a rebellion against that; a legit attempt to build something layered, chaotic and alive even though the laws of order and chaos work in such finite terms; maybe that’s the point…that not every design needs to be perfect or complete just real.
(Website is now finished)