Recreating a 1990 Book Cover (in HTML + CSS)

At the weekend, I became briefly obsessed with the cover of the manual for GoScript Plus, a 1990 software tool for converting PostScript output into a format that’s compatible with a wider array of IBM-compatible printers. I’ve never used this piece of software. I can’t even remember how I found my way to archive.org’s copy of its documentation. Just one of those mysteries. Anyway: here’s what it looks like: I can see why, if you were making software like this, you’d want to show off the number of typefaces your tool could support. And look: we can print text at wonky angles! Buy this and you can too! The design is very much a product of its era. That two-colour print, the strange angles, those smallcaps, the excessive use of title case, and the use of “ink jet” as two words rather than one. Anyway: I decided I’d attempt to re-create the cover in pure HTML + CSS. No SVGs; no images. Here’s what I came up with: Somehow mine looks slightly less-dated? But still very “90s”. I’m not…