Nottstalgia

Inspiration

We wanted to bring back the feeling of using a family computer in the 2000s — the era of Windows 7, nostalgic music, classic games, and exploring the internet for hours.

We also wanted to give HackNotts projects a fun way to get discovered. What if we combined the nostalgia of an old desktop computer with a platform for showcasing what people are building today?

That idea became Nottstalgia: a little trip back in time, built for the present.

What it does

Nottstalgia recreates the Windows 7 desktop experience directly in your browser, complete with familiar styling, interactive applications, and a nostalgic atmosphere.

Features include:

MP3 Player to Listen to music from the 2000s and relive the soundtrack of a generation.
Forum to discover and find advertisements for other projects built by other participants.
Clippy, bringing back Microsoft's iconic and ANNOYING paperclip assistant.
MS Paint to revisit the classic drawing experience and get creative.
The iconic Purble Place game, enjoy a nostalgic nod to one of Windows' most recognisable games.
Internet Archive browsing for exploring older versions of websites and rediscover what the internet used to look like.

How we built it

We built Nottstalgia using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, recreating the familiar Windows 7 aesthetic through custom styling and interactive web applications.

CSS helped us capture the classic desktop look, while JavaScript powers the interactions that make the experience more than a static mock-up.

We incorporated a music player, nostalgic applications, a project-sharing forum, and access to the Internet Archive to let users explore snapshots of the old web.

The project is hosted online through Vercel, making the experience accessible directly from a browser without needing to install an operating system or application.

Challenges we ran into

Getting the visual details right was important: the desktop needed to feel familiar rather than just resemble an old operating system. Using CSS was challenging and in the future the user of other styling tools like tailwind CSS would be cleaner and more intuitive for us.

Using a framework like React or React Native could of helped speed up development or add more advanced functionality.

We also faced development and deployment challenges involving merge conflicts and hosting. Working through these issues helped us understand the practical side of getting a project from local development to a live website.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud to have built an interactive, browser-based Windows 7 mock operating system using just HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Instead of creating a simple nostalgia-themed webpage, we brought together multiple experiences — music, games, drawing, an assistant, a forum, and archived web browsing — into one desktop-inspired environment.

We're particularly proud that Nottstalgia combines nostalgia with a practical purpose for HackNotts: helping people discover and share projects created by other participants.

Most importantly, we turned an idea into an experience people can open in their browser and explore for themselves.

What we learned

We learned how much detail goes into recreating a familiar user interface and how important consistency is when designing multiple interactive applications within one environment.

We gained experience building with vanilla HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, managing code with Git, troubleshooting deployment issues, and integrating different features into a unified experience.

We also explored how web archives can make the internet's history accessible, allowing users to revisit older versions of websites through the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.

Above all, we learned that a project can be both a nostalgic experience and a useful platform for bringing a community together.

What's next for Nottstalgia

More classic Windows applications, games, and desktop utilities.
Import a music library to feature more iconic tracks from the 2000s.
More seamless archived-web browsing, making it easier to revisit websites from different eras.
Custom desktop wallpapers, themes, and personalisation options.
Additional nostalgic sounds, animations, and interactions to make the experience feel even more authentic.

Our vision is to make Nottstalgia a digital time capsule — a place where people can relive the early days of personal computing, explore the internet's past, and discover what the next generation of developers is creating today.