Cover image for After 1 YEAR of hard work my NEW Ultimate Web Desktop Environment is ready for launch!!!!! 🎉🎉

Dustin Brett

Posted on Jan 2

After 1 YEAR of hard work my NEW Ultimate Web Desktop Environment is ready for launch!!!!! 🎉🎉

Hey everyone, thanks for checking out my article on my passion project for the last year (and several years prior in different forms/codebases).

I've recently completed 52 weekly streams in 2021 as I worked on coding my app, from Hello World to what it is today.

Today (Jan 2nd) was the day of my first stream one year ago so I felt it was a good day to do this release. I will be having a LIVE 🔴 Release Party Stream later TONIGHT, (Jan 2nd, 2022) at 9 PM PT to celebrate finally getting the code live and also to answer any questions or comments anyone may have.

I'm also going to be answering questions throughout the 1st week of 2022 as I will post on several sub reddits that may find this project interesting. Today I have posted on /r/reactjs so feel free to go over there to comment.

Feature Summary

System 🧠

File System

File Explorer
- Back, Forward, Recent locations, Address bar
Drag & Drop File Support (internal & external)
- Loading progress dialog
ZIP (write support), ZIP/ISO read support, RAR extract support
Writes to IndexedDb
Group selection/manipulation & drag to sort
Dynamic and auto cached icons for music, images & video
Context Menus
- Cut, Copy, Create shortcut, Delete, Rename
- Add file, Map directory
- Open with, Open file/folder location, Open in new window
- Download, Add to archive, Extract here, Set as wallpaper
- Sort by, New Folder, New Text Document
Keyboard Shortcuts
- CTRL+C, CTRL+V, CTRL+X, CTRL+A, Delete
- F2, F5, Backspace, Arrows, Enter
File information tooltips
Allow sorting by name, date, type or extension
- Persists states

Windows

Resizable and Draggable
Minimize, Maximize & Close
Persists size/position/maximized states
Animates opening and closing

Start Menu

Expandable Sidebar
- Apps list, Documents shortcut, Power (clears session)
Spotlight visual effect
Folder support
Keyboard shortcut opens with SHIFT+ESC

Taskbar

Peek hover preview of windows
Focused window indicator

Clock

Runs in a web worker
Synced to system clock on load
Date tooltip

Wallpaper

Dynamic animated wallpaper
Set via images (Fill, Fit, Stretch, Tile, Center)

Query parameter loading
- Examples:
- /?url=/favicon.ico
- /?app=TinyMCE

Apps 🧪

BoxedWine (.exe, .zip)

Runs 16/32-bit Windows applications

Browser (.htm, .html)

Loads websites (w/HTTP header support)
Bookmark bar
Favicon support
Back/Forward & Reload
Google search via Address bar

DevTools

Console, Elements, Network, Resources, Sources, DOM
Activate from Start Menu or SHIFT+F12

js-dos (.exe, .jsdos, .zip)

DOS emulator
Automatic save states on close
- /Users/Public/Snapshots
Automatic window resize

Monaco Editor

Code/text editor
Supports all file types
Save files via CTRL+S
Line count, cursor position, language id
Prettier formatting
- json, js/ts, css/sass/less, html, markdown

PDF (.pdf)

Renders PDF's
Page current/count & Zoom

Photos

Ruffle (.swf, .spl)

Flash Player emulator

Terminal

File system support
Autocomplete & history
Command list via help
Git support (checkout & clone)
Python support (.py)
WebAssembly Package Manager
- Examples:
- wapm cowsay moo (#)
- wax fortune (#)
Weather information

TinyMCE (.whtml)

Read & WYSIWYG modes
File save support

Virtual x86 (.img, .iso)

x86 emulator
Automatic save states on close
- /Users/Public/Snapshots
Automatic window resize

Video Player

Webamp (.mp3, .wsz)

Winamp audio player
Skin support

To Do 🔨

Add custom session.json for sort orders
File search in Terminal & File Explorer
Status bar button to save Monaco on mobile
PDF change page/zoom inputs
IRC Client

Add 96x96 icons for higher dpi devices
Make desktop icons draggable around grid
Window Menu Bar
Open/Save File Dialog
File Explorer Column View
File Properties Dialog
NES/SNES Emulator
Light theme
FFMpeg Support
ImageMagik Support
System Tray

Eventually

Event Viewer
Task Manager
Run Dialog
Drag/Drop Taskbar Entries
Wapm I/O
Terminal piping
Virtual Assistant
Calendar
Spreadsheet Viewer
Browser Tabs
Fancy Zones
Service Worker

Bugs 🐛

General

Initial sort order is not based on session
Layout shifts when text is untruncated
Closing File Manager too quickly causes memory leak
Monaco breaks Vanta is loaded via url query
Space Cadet loads too big if BoxedWine is loaded

Mobile

Titlebar menu/clicking doesn't work properly when draggable

Safari Mobile

Drag image is black
V86 not working
Eruda is missing titlebar

Firefox

TinyMCE styling is reset on 2nd load
Webamp stays in front during File Explorer drags

Thank you very much for checking out my project and please feel free to leave me feedback in whatever forum you desire. I plan to be focusing my YouTube efforts on coding and various topics about my project throughout 2022 so feel free to check those out and subscribe to my channel.

After 1 YEAR of hard work my NEW Ultimate Web Desktop Environment is ready for l...