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Posted by mitchivin 4 days ago

Show HN: My Windows XP portfolio with working Game Boy and iPod(mitchivin.com)
I posted my portfolio here about a year ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45154609) and while there was a big response, it was very mixed! It'll probably be similar this time, but regardless of your thoughts about the concept, I think I've done a pretty good job creating one of the most nostalgic corners of the internet, especially with the latest additions.

It'll always be up for debate whether this is an effective way to get noticed as opposed to a standard, quick and easy portfolio, but I'll die on the hill that this is way more fun for both parties, every day of the week.

70 points | 34 comments
vunderba 4 days ago|
Nice job. I saw a portfolio designed as a Mac OS 9 interface a while back, but I think one of the best ones I’ve ever seen was one that modeled a sort of 3D, “UNIX‑esque” operating system [1].

A small bit of feedback: the progress bar during boot is a little too smooth. If you want to be accurate, it should technically move in ticks, where each tick corresponds to one of the segments.

[1] - https://joeyderuiter.me

mitchivin 4 days ago|
it's been mentioned a few times so ill take a look into it. from memory i think it was a choice but i'll go back and reaccess the loading bar smoothness :)

and yeah there's some really cool one's out there!

ty_2k 4 days ago||
This is so sick. Laughed hard when the iPod wheel worked as expected with my mouse and I was able to get Bomfunk MC's playing. Great stuff!
mitchivin 4 days ago|
thanks boss! one of the first songs I ever heard/saw the video for. Never left me haha
bartread 4 days ago||
I mean... I like it. I remember your post from last time where, apparently, I got the top comment.

It looks like you've dealt with the UX issues I ran into previously (e.g., back/forward behaviour), but I did almost immediately spot a different oddity in your portfolio...

When you click on "My Projects" and then use the left nav to switch between "All", "Image", "Web", etc., it highlights the relevant projects rather than filtering out the irrelevant projects... which does feel a bit weird. I guess I understand it give you only have four projects in there but that's perhaps the other issue: I'd really like to see more projects than you're showing off here.

But, I mean, I still like it - I really like it. It's a lot more characterful than the vast majority of other portfolios I've seen and the attention to detail is very strong overall.

Again, something I said last time that I'll repeat here: if you were applying for a design or UX role with this I'd certainly interview you. I'd have to be unhinged not to.

(And, FWIW, I thought I gave you fairly balanced feedback, but clearly managed to piss a few people off so maybe, again, we'll both be in for another roasting - or at least a rather mixed bag of comments. Regardless, I wish you the absolute best.)

mitchivin 4 days ago|
haha welcome back, your feedback last time was 100% fair and balanced - I used it along with the other comments in that thread to resolve the issues I felt deserved attention and the things you mentioned fell into that category, so I appreciate it!

in regards to the new my projects bug, thats honestly something I noticed myself just recently too and its a result of changing which projects I have up. at one point they all had at least 1 project they were filtering - that is something I will be sorting out!

Im getting back to fleshing out the projects now, I've been spending time working on some other stuff - i needed a break after the amount of time that went into this originally haha. but im aiming to circle back now and polish up/add to the copy/projects

haha! Im fully prepared for some roasts but this time i'm 9 months more experienced in dealing with it. Thanks so much for the thoughtful feedback, I really appreciate it and its even better coming from someone who saw the original version.

bartread 4 days ago||
That's cool - I'm glad it was useful. I also should say, I like the fact you've come back after a decent chunk of time and posted it again with changes. It's very rare that happens with Show HNs, but it's really nice to see the progress on something over time and I'm not sure I would have run across this again unless you'd posted.
mitchivin 4 days ago||
ahah thanks for making the effort to comment again

in the same way, it's been cool getting feedback from the same person after those changes/time has passed

freshnode 4 days ago||
You've nailed the feel. Ignore the nay sayers!
mitchivin 4 days ago|
thanks mate! it was countless hours of obession & frustration back in the days of Sonnet 3.5

For sure! Im a big advocate for anything outside the box haha

melvinczyk 4 days ago||
This is amazing, really takes me back. I love the interaction on the website and how you can move around the windows.
mitchivin 4 days ago|
thank you!
Phoenixhq 4 days ago||
I just took a look and it's really great, it feels like going back in time.
mitchivin 4 days ago|
Thanks dude!
petterroea 4 days ago||
Immediately the wallpaper looks AI generated, and for me that immediately removes any trust in "graphic design" and "attention to detail. But the rest is cool
mitchivin 3 days ago|
Aside from the fact that Graphic Designer is barely if ever mentioned on the site, I don't think you understand what Graphic Design is
tmp32736 4 days ago||
I love it. But I'm missing the Game Boy cheat code to unlock the goodies...
mitchivin 4 days ago|
check the bar above the gameboy when it asks you for the code :)
qmr 4 days ago||
A little dodgy that the game boy is only available on desktop?

Pretty cool though.

mitchivin 4 days ago|
I don't know if dodgy is the word I would use

https://mitchivin.github.io/gameboy/

V01t 4 days ago|
I really enjoyed this, thanks for taking me back in time!
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