web.de
As the name suggests, web.de is a desktop environment based on web standards such as HTML and javascript. Using this style of interface brings certain advantages along with it such as the built-in (optional) remote access capabilities and the ability for it to be easily modified or customized. While there are several official themes that are available for use with web.de, this document will only cover the one used by default to reduce confusion.
License
This projects' codebase is licensed under the CPLv2 unless a valid CPLv1 license has been purchased. More information about both of these licenses can be found under the "Our Licenses" link of our homepage.
User Interface
The default interface utilizes two bars, one of the left-hand side of the screen known as the 'Navbar' and another one at the top of the screen identified as the 'Titlebar'. The rest of the screen will be consumed with the layout of any screen selected from various icons in the Navbar, or with any of the sliders that have been clicked from the Titlebar. Below we will cover each of these bars individually, but it is important to point out that although the interface can be themed, each theme will contain all the options covered below. They may not all be contained in a single bar as outlined below, but you will know what the functionality of each is when you encounter it in your currently configured theme.
As mentioned, this bar contains the various icons to navigate the system, the taskbar to switch to a desired running application, and the currently configured time. Interaction with this bar will allow you to see a variety of information ranging from the health of the device to personally installed widgets and running tasks.
Desktop One of the most familiar parts of any operating system, the desktop mostly acts as the place to store frequently accessed documents and shortcuts to start applications. Like traditional desktops such as Windows, the icons stored here in web.de can be re-arranged based on various criteria so that the desired one can more quickly be located. This functionality will also be extended to our mobile interface unlike Android and iOS. Currently there are several ways to sort the contents and include by date, file, name, size, and type. By default, this screen is sorted by filename, alphabetically. When sorting by date, the icons will be arranged so that the latest accessed files are at the top of the list. If you would like to sort the icons so they are grouped by type (e.g. doc, mp3, pdf, etc), then click the 'File' option. To sort by file size (smallest first), simply select the 'Size' option. Finally, you can arrange the layout by the category type that the application belongs to (e.g. Eduation, Productivity, Social, etc).
Widgets Most users enjoy being able to customize their devices to their own liking and web.de allows you to do just that using this screen! To install an extension, a theme, or an icon set, navigate to this screen where you will be presented with a popup listing all the available options for the desired widget. You can change the type of widget to list by using the links at the top of the popup. Once you are in the desired list, click any item on the left to bring up its details on the right. When you come across something you would like to install, simply click the 'Install' button within the item's details.
Access This screen will be used for the majority of the interaction with the device and is similar to the Start Menu in Microsoft Windows. The screen is laid out in three destinct areas - Device, Local, Network.
Recent As a way to display all the recent activity of the device, use this screen to locate and open various accessed data files such as documents, pictures, and videos. Unlike other traditional operating systems, this screen will also show you recent software installations, uninstallations, and updates providing you the ability to rollback any of those modifications from a single location.
Info Similar to the 'Recent' screen, this one will concisely show you any information that you should be made aware of by the various software running on the device. While the main listing will be expanded to show more categories with the release of future projects of ours, this screen currently shows alerts along with available updates and information related to the system, software, hardware, and device health.
Social With the absence of a project currently under development, this screen is simply acting as a place holder. Once we have a release of the upcoming project, incorporation into the OS will provide social interaction directly from the OS interface itself!
Taskbar All traditional operating systems provide their users some way to switch between running applications, and web.de is no different. However, unlike Microsoft Windows that places some opened items in the taskbar and others in the system tray, the listing you find in this section of web.de's Navbar will show you all the user-loaded software. To switch to a desired application in the list, simply click its icon!
Help As the name suggests, clicking this icon will load the help documentation for web.de.
Epoch If you would like to see more information about the current epoch, click this item from the Navbar. The information shown here will be expanded as our new projects are publicly released.
Titlebar
Install
Smartbar
Indicators
Pairing
Connections
Levels
State
Extra
Up until recently, all operating system manufacturers had different interfaces based on the device in which the software was to be installed. The only company that has attempted to unify the interface was Microsoft with Windows 8. Whether it can successfully bridge that gap or not is left to be seen, but there is a very important advantage to users by accomplishing this goal. Having a single interface presents a much smaller learning curve for users, causing a more plesant experience when working with different electronics. As stated, Windows 8 is still too new to determine if it will do a good job at unifying the interface among various devices, but there are still some types where Windows is unable to even be considered. These are such electronics as routers, access points, printers, stereo receivers, and more. Enter XiniX. One of the original design goals of this new age operating system was to provide the user with a common interface among all devices, including those where Microsoft Windows falls short. Because the interface of the OS is web-based, it makes it easy to use locally as well as remotely! Although the interface interaction can differ among the various themes for the software, the overall aspects remain intact throughout. Below we will define and educate you on the three main parts of the interface.
