← Back▲ NEW ▼ REFRAME BROWSER

Surf like it's 1999.

A real Chromium browser with swappable retro chrome, Wayback time travel and 56k feel. See the modern web through the eyes of 1999.

  • 12 Classic Themes
  • Wayback Machine
  • Time Warp Modem
  • Today vs Year Share
  • Open Source
View on GitHubmacOS (Apple Silicon)WindowsLinux (AppImage)

Open Source · v1.5.0 · macOS, Windows & Linux

Reframe - Surf like it's 1999 | Product Hunt
ebay.com
1999
Reframe browser running the Netscape Communicator theme on eBay's 1999 homepage
▶ Reframe running the Netscape Communicator theme on eBay, 1999.

Screens

Here's how the first three themes look on modern macOS, with a real website loaded.

opera.com
1996
Reframe with Opera 1.0 chrome showing opera.com

Opera 1.0

1996
microsoft.com
1999
Reframe with Internet Explorer 5 chrome showing microsoft.com

Internet Explorer 5

1999
netscape.org
1999
Reframe with Netscape Communicator 4.8 chrome showing Netcenter

Netscape 4.8

1999
apple.com
1999
Reframe with Internet Explorer 4 for Mac chrome showing apple.com

IE 4 for Mac

1999
kmeleonbrowser.org
2000
Reframe with K-Meleon 0.2 chrome showing kmeleonbrowser.org

K-Meleon 0.2

2000
apple.com
2002
Reframe with Safari 1.0 brushed-metal chrome showing apple.com

Safari 1.0

2002
firefox.com
2004
Reframe with Firefox 1.0 chrome showing firefox.com

Firefox 1.0

2004

What is Reframe?

Reframe is a desktop browser for macOS that looks exactly like Netscape, Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari did back then: including toolbar icons, status bar and the spinning “throbber” in the top right. Under the hood it runs a modern browser engine, so you can actually browse the real web.

~/about/tech

How does it work?

Electron

Electron is a framework for building desktop apps out of web technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript). Apps like VS Code, Slack and Discord are built with Electron.

Chromium

Chromium is the open-source browser engine behind Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and many others. It renders the web. Reframe uses it to display web pages, then wraps a classic UI around it.

12 classic themes

Pick your favorite era. Hot-swap at runtime, no restart needed.

  • NCSA Mosaic
    1993

    Where the graphical web started. Origin of many browser conventions we still use today.

  • Internet Explorer 1.0
    1995

    Windows 95. Where it all began: grey chrome, simple toolbar, not a tab in sight.

  • Internet Explorer 3.02
    1997

    Windows 95. Its own icon and toolbar aesthetic, full classic 90s feel.

  • Internet Explorer 5
    1999

    Windows 98. Favorites star, Outlook Express vibes, the gateway to the web.

  • Internet Explorer 6.0
    2001

    Windows XP Luna. Full XP toolbar, green back button, Windows-flag throbber.

  • Internet Explorer 4.01 (Mac)
    1998

    Mac OS 9. Apple's sibling release with platinum chrome and a proper Mac menu bar.

  • Netscape Communicator 4.7
    1999

    Windows 9x. Bookmarks, “What's Related”, the famous N logo.

  • Netscape Communicator 6.0
    2000

    Windows. The big Gecko reboot, new skins, new vibe.

  • Opera 3.60
    2000

    Windows. Fast, opinionated, HotList sidebar and bottom address bar.

  • K-Meleon 0.2
    2001

    Windows 98. Lean Gecko-based browser for power users. Super native, super fast.

  • Safari 1.0
    2003

    Mac OS X. Brushed metal, blue Aqua buttons, Apple at its finest.

  • Firefox 1.0
    2004

    Cross-platform. The underdog that changed everything. Classic toolbar.

What Reframe does

  • 01Hot-swappable themes

    Hot-swappable themes

    Switch themes at runtime, no restart. Each theme ships its own toolbar, labels, status bar and throbber.

  • 02Full browsing

    Full browsing

    Modern Chromium under the hood. JavaScript, video, web apps, all work.

  • 03Wayback Mode

    Wayback Mode

    Old web via real archive snapshots. Per-theme era date, year & month picker, Today back to live.

  • 04Time Warp Modem

    Time Warp Modem

    Not just looking old, actually slow like back then: Full · ISDN 64k · 56K · 28.8K, incl. latency.

  • 05Today vs Year Share

    Today vs Year Share

    PNG that pairs the live page with a real archive snapshot. Save as PNG or copy straight to the clipboard.

  • 06Bookmarks, history & personal bar

    Bookmarks, history & personal bar

    Classic surf helpers with drag & drop onto the personal bar, plus the Opera HotList sidebar.

  • 07Quick flyout

    Quick flyout

    A slide-out panel for every feature: switch themes, toggle modes, open history, without leaving your flow.

  • 08Per-theme About pages

    Per-theme About pages

    Help → About shows a dedicated history & trivia page for the active browser.

  • 09Open Source

    Open Source

    Source code on GitHub. Forks, issues, pull requests welcome.

~/modem
DIAL-UP

Time Warp Modem

Not just looking old, actually slow like back then. Applies to existing and new tabs — but only inside Reframe.

  • Full Speed
  • ISDN 64k
  • 56K Modem
  • 28.8K Modem

Reframe ❤️ RetroMac

Reframe is the perfect companion to RetroMac. You can absolutely browse with it normally, but it's not meant to replace your daily driver. Reframe is for the moments when you want to bring the good old days back to your desktop.

Open Source

Reframe is fully open source. Find the code, issues and releases on GitHub.

Open repository

https://github.com/klotzbrocken/Reframe

Legal & trademarks

Reframe is an independent, non-commercial open-source project and is not affiliated with the trademark holders. All rights to the recreated designs, logos and trademarks belong to their respective owners: NCSA / University of Illinois (Mosaic), Microsoft (Internet Explorer), Apple (Safari), Mozilla (Firefox), Opera Software (Opera), the K-Meleon project (K-Meleon) and Netscape/Verizon (Netscape Navigator/Communicator). The themes are intended as an aesthetic tribute.