polaris-os - Stardance

Ship #5

hey everyone! After reading your reviews on my last ship, I spent time restructuring my code and adding some new features to make the OS feel much more like a real desktop.

Here is what’s new:

Local storage persistence: Polaris OS finally remembers your preferences! your custom accent colors and notepad entries now save automatically, so you won’t lose them when you reload the page.
Achievements system: i added 5 brand-new unlockable achievements to find while exploring the OS (and yes, your progress saves via local storage too!).
New dictionary app: look up any word instantly using the Openmuse API. you can use the new dictionary app, or just type define [word] straight into the terminal.
Settings app & UI polish: built a dedicated Settings app to manage the OS. i also added a volume slider for the media player (which has new songs!), and hover-name overlays for taskbar apps.
Performance & visual upgrades: designed a brand new, cooler loading animation, fixed the stretched confetti hitbox bug, and optimized the NASA APOD widget so high-res space images no longer lag the entire website.

let me know what you think of the new apps and if you manage to unlock all the achievements!

4 devlogs
7h
9.93x multiplier
69 Stardust

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@kai_lmao on polaris-os · 21 days ago

45m 1s logged

a few smaller changes before i ship again,
there was an issue where the clickable box on the text for confetti was stretched across the entire screen, so i fixed that.
Another issue that was there is that when the nasa apod was a very high res image, it made the entire website very laggy so i changed that to display url instead of the hdurl
and lastly i added localstorage so polaris actually remembers a lot of the options like your notes and accent color changes that you change!

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@kai_lmao on polaris-os · 22 days ago

1h 25m 56s logged

achievements! while thinking of ideas to add, i saw my friend unlock achievements and i thought why not add that to Polaris too? i added 5 new achievements and they even save after you reload the page! i am planning on adding localstorage to the other apps too, like settings and notepad. i also noticed that sometimes when the nasa apod is an extremely detailed of high definition image, the widget lags a lot when opening and closing. i need to find a way to fix that.

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@kai_lmao on polaris-os · 27 days ago

2h 18m 37s logged

hey guys! i have made more changes to polaris os today.
firstly i added a new app! its a dictionary app and you can look up any word you like by typing it in the app, or by typing “define [word]” in the terminal. i tried to use dictionaryapi but realised its not very reliable, so the current api im using for this app is openmuse.
secondly i added a new loading animation! i felt the loading star in the start felt a little boring, so i added more elements on all 4 sides of the screen so it looks way cooler!
and a small change but i also added more songs into the playlist of the media player.

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@kai_lmao on polaris-os · 29 days ago

2h 29m 53s logged

back with more updates! after shipping, i checked all the reviews and got to work implementing them! i first took some help with ai to restructure and reorganize my code since it was starting to get messy and hard to read and make new changes, then i started working on new apps!
currently im working on adding the settings app! i spent around 2 hours on it, and i will add more to it and polish it up soon. i also added a volume slider for the music app, and added a name overlay for the apps on the taskbar which took about 30 minutes to do.
please do let me know if theres any more changes or additions i can make to improve polaris!

Ship #4

@kai_lmao on polaris-os · 29 days ago

hey guys! i’m back with more big updates for polaris!

since my last ship, i’ve been juggling my exams but still managed to add some really fun new features to make the OS feel even more alive and interactive.

heres a list of every single new change i added since and the issues i had with adding them:

Apps

Music app: the music app was pretty fun to add and made polaris less boring, but i kept running into issues with adding the ui over the default ui (the white blob which did not match polaris at all)
Gallery app: the gallery app is another addition, with a few pictures related to polaris. the difficult part was adding the transitions between changing the pictures, and loading the pictures without taking hours
Terminal app: the terminal app is something i took inspiration from other webos’s, and it was actually hard to add and i also kept running into a issue where i could not type in the app at all, but i fixed it all and got it working!

Other changes

Dynamic wallpaper: i got a few people say that the wallpaper looked a little boring, so i added stars that float around the entire wallpaper and react with your cursor!
TicTacToe bot: this one was a great learning experience but just as hard, took me a while to figure out what i was doing but i finally got there in the end and built a working bot to play against!
Desktop widgets: i added 2 widgets, the analog time and the NASA APOD. the analog time was pretty straight forward, but the NASA APOD was a little hard, especially with adding a fallback because any video APOD just broke the widget.
For the smaller changes i just changed the logos of a few apps to look consistent, cleaned up my github repo and changed the tab title.

im getting pretty close to reaching where i want polaris to be. feel free to try out all the changes! hope you enjoy them :)

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@kai_lmao on polaris-os · 29 days ago

4h 54m 16s logged

many more changes! as im getting closer to the 10 hours that count per ship im going to ship once again after this devlog, but heres a list of all the changes i made since the last devlog:

Added a gallery app! now you can see different pictures related to polaris and on how to find it. (it also was taking a while to load everytime, so i made it load pictures in advance, and a error message so the user knows whats going on just incase it dosnt load)
Added widgets! there are now two new widgets, the nasa apod widget and the analog clock widget. they open by default, but you can collapse them out of view if they look too distracting! (the nasa apod also had an issue where if it was a video it broke, so i made it fallback to the previous day in that case)
Added a playlist to the media app so now the user can see the list of all the songs and play them from there too.
Added a dynamic wallpaper, theres now stars in the wallpaper that move around and react to your cursor! (i couldnt animate the wallpaper or find a better one, so i added a layer on the wallpaper with the stars moving around to make everything feel more dynamic)
Added a terminal app with simple commands! you can now open apps and more using the terminal app.
Neatened up the files in github too! with multiple songs and icons the github repo started to look very very messy so i made new folders and cleaned it up!

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@kai_lmao on polaris-os · about 1 month ago

3h 13m 11s logged

i more big features to polaris! its not a lot of changes, but the features i added were difficult for me to implement cause i kept making errors, but here are all the changes i made:

Added a music player app! plays a set of songs that i uploaded
Added a bot to tictactoe! it was way harder than i thought, but with a bit of help i managed to get it working. players now have the option to play against someone else or against a bot.
Changed the logos off a bunch of the apps to look more consistent

its a bit difficult to make progress while juggling exams, but i will be making a lot more changes soon!

Ship #3

@kai_lmao on polaris-os · about 1 month ago

hey everyone! i’m back with more updates to Polaris, my web-based space-themed OS!

since my last ship, i’ve made many changes to make it feel even more like a real, immersive desktop experience right in your browser.

the biggest new tool is the weather app! you can just type in your desired city and it instantly fetches the real time temperature and weather conditions using an api. the live clock on the taskbar also got an update as clicking it now smoothly slides up an interactive calendar, complete with arrows so you can actually navigate through different months! it also removes the need to have its own app in the taskbar, and feels more like windows.

i also completely revamped the ui and aesthetics! everything now has a glowing purple drop shadows around the edges of the windows (kinda like underglow on a car!). the taskbar icons now smoothly scale up when you hover over them to indicate that they are selected, and clicking them makes the apps fade into existence instead of just snapping in. i also merged the welcome and links pages into one big info window to keep the desktop clean.

to make the whole OS feel alive, i built a brand new animated star filling loading screen, plus i added global sound effects! there’s a satisfying startup sound when the OS finishes booting, and click sounds whenever you open apps or navigate the UI. (there’s also a fun hidden easter egg on the desktop background that triggers star confetti if you click the text!)

my goal is still to turn this into a single tab with everything simple a person could need in one place. i will continue working on this project, polishing the animations, and ofc adding more apps! feel free to drag the glowing windows around, check your local weather, and play around with the confetti! i hope you like my work :)

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@kai_lmao on polaris-os · about 1 month ago

29m 42s logged

A small devlog before i ship my project again but heres what i added:

Added boot up, button clicking and calendar opening sound effects! (if the boot up sound does not play for you, it means that a browser security setting disabled it)

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@kai_lmao on polaris-os · about 1 month ago

2h 41m 39s logged

More changes! not as many as the last one, but here are all the changes i made:

Added a boot up and loading screen!
Added a weather app! type the place you want the weather of and it will show it to you!
Added the feature where you can scroll thru months instead of the calendar being stuck on just the current month
Added a purple hue around the windows to add more depth
Changed the style of the taskbar a little bit
Moved “PolarisOS” out of the taskbar and put it on the desktop instead to fill in empty space

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@kai_lmao on polaris-os · about 1 month ago

2h 49m 24s logged

After shipping my project i checked out all the ratings, and ive made a couple of changes to Polaris.

Many people pointed out that it took multiple clicks to open apps, so i fixed that issue. now apps open with just one click, and they have a hover animation (when you hover over the app icon it becomes bigger)
Fixed the project link not working
Added animations for the windows opening and closing
Added a higher resolution background
Added an easter egg (hint:-click on polaris!)
Added milliseconds to the timer
Moved the calendar out of the taskbar and hidden away, it opens when you click on the time in the taskbar (like in windows)
Merged the welcome window and links window into one information app for better organization in the taskbar
Neatened up the app borders and size on the taskbar to be more visible

going to start working on more apps now!

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@kai_lmao on polaris-os · about 1 month ago

1h 15m 27s logged

Calendar! polaris now has a calendar so you can check all the dates of the month! it also highlights the current date aswell. i also removed the name of the apps from the taskbar as it was starting to get cramped, and for my next task i am going to add animations to everything and make it look nicer!

Ship #2

@kai_lmao on polaris-os · about 1 month ago

hey everyone! i built Polaris, a web-based OS based on a space theme! it feels just like a real OS experience right here in your browser!

the whole thing is built by me completely from scratch, using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. it just started out as a simple introductory project, but once i started adding more things to it, it slowly turned into a whole operating system! the first app i added was the note taker, which was a simple tool to add temporary notes and reminders inside. after that, i added more apps like the calculator, timer, and tic-tac-toe (more coming soon)!

all of these apps can run at the exact same time, and you can drag them all around the screen. the taskbar at the bottom gives you easy access to open any of the available apps, complete with icons that highlight when you tap them and a live clock. feel free to check out all the apps, drag the windows around, and see if you can beat your friends at tic-tac-toe!

i plan on turning into a single tab with everything simple a person could need, so instead of opening multiple apps, anyone can just open one single tab and have all the simple tools they need in one place!

i will continue working on this project as time passes, and i plan to add animations to everything, add an apps window, and ofc more apps! i hope you like my work :)

4 devlogs
4h
9.08x multiplier
36 Stardust
WebOS 2

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@kai_lmao on polaris-os · about 1 month ago

1h 5m 2s logged

Tic-Tac-Toe! i added yet another app, the tic-tac-toe app! polaris felt a bit boring with only utility apps in it, so i added the new app to add a bit more fun! i themed it after space too, with players being the earth and the moon. it adds more color and vibrance to polaris too!

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@kai_lmao on polaris-os · about 1 month ago

1h 0m 53s logged

added a timer! continuing on my quest of adding more apps to polaris, the newest addition is the timer. it can starts counting up and when you start it and pauses whenever you want it to, and it also is themed to match the rest of the website.

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@kai_lmao on polaris-os · about 1 month ago

1h 13m 8s logged

i made a calculator! i am now adding more apps to polaris and i have started with adding a calculator which does all the simple functions, and i also neatened up the taskbar a bit by changing icon positions and adding borders around them to create uniformity!

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@kai_lmao on polaris-os · about 2 months ago

38m 26s logged

i added the note taker app! now it has the ability to actually take notes, and it can be opened by double clicking and highlighted by single clicking. i also made it transparent using the blur feature and i think it goes pretty well with the rest of the OS!

@coolcream approved your project · about 2 months ago

This project was vetted by Shipwrights and is now up for voting. You can ship again after making more updates.

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Hey kommurisujith36,
Awesome project! I'd love to see what you make in the future!

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Ship #1

@kai_lmao on polaris-os · about 2 months ago

i made a webOS that is themed after the Polaris star! it took me a few hours to get this far, and i am going to spend a few hours every weekend progressing it further by adding more apps, and giving it more functionality in general. a new feature i built is a taskbar on the bottom with the ability to open windows and applications, and see time from there instead of a top bar which was mentioned in the guide, so i could get a more windows/macOS feel to the webOS which is more familiar.

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WebOS 1

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@kai_lmao on polaris-os · about 2 months ago

20m 1s logged

started working on an app to implement into my web os! it does look a little whacky right now, but i will be fixing it soon and adding functionality to it.

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@kai_lmao on polaris-os · about 2 months ago

2h 11m 35s logged

i added draggable windows which also open and close! i used a little bit of help from ai as i was getting confused, but i added a little bar on the top which acts as a drag box, and also has the close button on it! i also added buttons on the taskbar on the bottom so a closed window can be opened back up again! i also added the time to the taskbar, and neatened up my code a bit so its easier to understand and nicer to look at. i am proud of the progress i made!

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@kai_lmao on polaris-os · about 2 months ago

1h 32m 19s logged

Started working on my very own web-based OS! i am theming it after the star polaris, and currently it looks decent (i hope), i still have to go further and continue making it more functional and nicer, but so far i am happy with how it looks! feel free to give me ideas on how to make it look ever nicer :)