# 98.css

42 Hacker News commenters recommended 98.css and 4 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** A free CSS library that recreates the Windows 98 look closely, loved for nostalgia and easy use; some tabs and control spacing are off.

## Why people recommend it

- Nostalgic, brings back old memories (5 comments): "This was my burnout recovery project and holds a place near and dear to my heart." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49030043)) "You have brought back so many memories of mine through this one website." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49031709)) "Hits just the right mix of usability and nostalgia" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49030323))
- Authentic, pixel-accurate Windows 98 look (4 comments): "pixel-perfect (and functional) recreation of the windows 98 desktop environment in under a MB" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49031232)) "looks really identical to the widgets and stuff of Win98" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49029667)) "a throwback lib that seems to be mostly pixel-accurate" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49030528))
- Small, MIT-licensed, easy to extend (3 comments): "pixel-perfect (and functional) recreation of the windows 98 desktop environment in under a MB" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49031232)) "Feel free to lift any CSS you need from https://jdan.github.io/98.css/ , it's MIT licensed." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49963404)) "It was very easy to modify and extend, thanks!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49030347))
- Beveled borders and gradients done well (2 comments): "The border and box-shadow tricks to recreate the beveled Win98 look are really well done!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49029815)) "The blue gradients on the titlebars are actually very pleasing." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49029972))

## What people warn about

- Tabs don't switch in some examples (2 comments): "I tried clicking on the tabs in the tab component, and nothing happened." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49034818)) "tabs in the multirow tabs example do not change position randomly as they should when clicked" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49029867))
- Small font and cursor inaccuracies (3 comments): "it would be more historically accurate to omit pointer cursors on expandable treeview items" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49031066)) "Looks terrible on my machine. Something wrong with the font." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49032683)) "the ever-so-slightly-incorrect version of MS Sans Serif" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49032184))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Tailwind CSS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tailwind-css.md): 387 recommend
- [Bootstrap](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bootstrap.md): 73 recommend
- [Oat HTML UI component library](https://hackerapproved.com/p/oat.md): 29 recommend
- [DaisyUI](https://hackerapproved.com/p/daisyui.md): 22 recommend
- [Pico CSS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pico-css.md): 22 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "98.css", https://hackerapproved.com/p/98-css/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).