I wrote something new! It’s a UI design history essay about Mac’s Control Panel, and it uses emulation in some… maybe new and maybe interesting ways?

https://aresluna.org/frame-of-preference

Frame of preference

A story of early Mac settings told by 10 emulators.

@mwichary This is a goddamned tour de force. Congratulations. Incredible.

I quibble with one thing: "outside of the title bar, there is absolutely no text present here.” But do you mean words? Numbers are text in my thinking! As opposed to only symbolic elements.

@glennf Oh, interesting! I see your point. To me numbers do not register as text (somehow?), but „words” is a better word anyway.

@mwichary (editors never stop poking)

I think you’ve invented a new kind of storytelling. Not just embedding the emulator, which is cool and I gather not unique, but the narrative you wrap around it. I love something that can only be told in one medium—to duplicate this article, you can't do anything but create a machine or environment capable of emulation.

@glennf Thanks! I was so inspired by @mihaip’s work and wanted to do something where the story and emulators actually are aware of each other and talk to each other. I’m actually kind of amazed that it works (there’s one easter egg I’m really proud of, haha).

Fun to get to be an alchemist of sorts!

@mwichary @mihaip Two geniuses working together. I am on a slow internet on the road right now, so I have to work through the rest of it later—the more complicated emulators aren't loading.
@glennf @mihaip Yeah, the last three can be pretty taxing overall.