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Decker – A HyperCard Replacement

by harryvederci on 1/13/24, 10:44 PM with 36 comments

  • by bane on 1/14/24, 3:01 AM

    Oh man, there is an absolute beauty with 1-bit graphics that I think is deeply underappreciated. When the right dithering algorithm is used, the graphics look like what characters in cyberpunk novels dream of. [1]

    I secretly wish the dominant aesthetic in computing was one where everything was mac-like 1-bit dithered graphics, and we only used color when absolutely necessary - when the black and white graphics just couldn't convey what was needed. Like if instead of throwing it away for color, we had just built on top of it.

    Side note, I'm also often struck how 1-bit-ish graphics sometimes were used to great effect on the ZXSpectrum, another minimally graphically capable computer of the era. When the game developers were trying to use color the games often looked worse than if they had just stuck with a simpler scheme. Chase H.Q., Bombjack, Pang!, etc. all look amazing to my eye.

    1 - https://surma.dev/things/ditherpunk/

  • by hyperhello on 1/13/24, 11:38 PM

    Just to plug my own project here, or maybe for comparison: HyperCard Simulator at https://hcsimulator.com will import and run your classic HyperCard stacks as faithfully as possible.

  • by jclulow on 1/13/24, 11:02 PM

    I tried some of the examples on my phone but it ends up being basically microscopic because it's targetting a classic Mac resolution. I think it would help if it either did something intelligent with pixel doubling or some other scaling technique, or at least didn't disable the user's ability to zoom in when it's too small.

  • by dang on 1/13/24, 11:31 PM

    Related:

    Decker: A Multimedia Sketchpad - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33478246 - Nov 2022 (7 comments)

    Lil: A Scripting Language - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33393283 - Oct 2022 (28 comments)

    Decker, a platform that builds on the legacy of Hypercard and classic macOS - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33377964 - Oct 2022 (88 comments)

  • by tonymet on 1/14/24, 3:08 AM

    I wish HyperCard would have been the web UI instead of HTML. Simpler, more consistent, more intuitive, fewer distractions.

  • by i_don_t_know on 1/14/24, 9:16 AM

    The creator of Decker talked about the motivation behind Decker, its design and the design of its scripting language lil on the ArrayCast podcast: https://www.arraycast.com/episodes/episode43-john-earnest-de...

    Very interesting episode!

  • by beagle3 on 1/14/24, 7:26 AM

    Also includes Lil - a programming language quite different from Hyperscript/Applescript, but which is beautiful and interesting in its own right — kind of a “humanized” vector language.

  • by xhevahir on 1/14/24, 12:10 AM

    Here's another re-creation of HyperCard, WyldCard: https://github.com/defano/wyldcard

  • by WoodenChair on 1/14/24, 5:22 AM

    Shameless plug: If you're looking to make graphics for 1-bit scenarios like this, I make an app for that called Retro Dither for the Mac: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/retro-dither-b-w-is-beautiful/...

  • by hoistbypetard on 1/14/24, 2:06 AM

    The inclusion of Font/DA Mover when you use the "Resources..." menu item made me chortle with joy.

  • by ptek on 1/14/24, 5:45 AM

    Looks great, Seems like the tool to remake Micro$oft Home - Encarta 95 Mind Maze

  • by qwertyshok on 1/16/24, 5:31 AM

    Will something ESP32-based be able to run Decker?

  • by richardanaya on 1/13/24, 11:42 PM

    Beautiful