Windows 11 in Svelte

by jadenon 5/11/2023, 2:17 AMwith 204 comments

by nstarton 5/11/2023, 2:58 AM

Just want to shout out a couple of things.

One, it's great to see a hack project here that's been done just for the fun of it. I'm noticing a few comments questioning the "why?" around this. To me at least, it's just a really fun thing to do to hack together something, just because. There doesn't always have to be a rhyme or reason for things like this.

Two, it felt like there was a period where sites that would host hack projects with no limitations was slowly dying out. Not just because of costs but also because of the associated risks with it (spam, phishing, etc). I really do love what Vercel is enabling here. When I mentor younger folks, it's becoming really easy to tell them where to go throw up a hack project after they've learnt git and Vercel is fast becoming The choice to send them to. Much kudos and gratitude to the team there.

by splittydevon 5/11/2023, 2:30 AM

Looks great, but not very realistic. The real Win11 start menu doesn't open immediately, it glitches in various ways for 3-4 times before actually working. Realism 7/10

by simonwon 5/11/2023, 2:31 AM

I'm enjoying how simple some of this actually is.

Here's the full implementation of VS Code for example: https://github.com/yashash-pugalia/win11-svelte/blob/main/sr...

It's just 44 lines of code - it works by opening a window with an iframe that points to https://stackblitz.com/github/yashash-pugalia/win11Svelte?em...

by josephgon 5/11/2023, 2:50 AM

Here's a link to the live version, if you struggled to find it too:

https://win11-svelte.vercel.app/

by epson 5/11/2023, 7:02 AM

Why is a good chunk of the Readme dedicated to pleading for a repo star?

Not the first time seeing a project doing that. This can't be just for vanity reasons. Anyone knows?

by deweywsuon 5/11/2023, 6:18 AM

I'm going to sound old here, but why use Svelte? Why yet another one? Why not an established framework like React or Vue? I realize Svelte is compiled but it's oh so close to the others, and its performance is only better in certain corner cases. I ask because of learning exhaustion with the plethora of lookalike languages and frameworks and the constant, unending learning curve associated with all front end development now. I'm not dissing creation or incremental progress. I just sometimes don't think the constant change for new languages and frameworks that come with only minor syntax changes or small differences under the hood is worth the never-ending mandatory learning thrust on developers.

by RamblingCTOon 5/11/2023, 5:40 AM

You know, if you are looking for a job, that's what I love to see. Curiosity, passion, and just pure software craftsmanship. Fuck CVs, gimme this.

by wontonccon 5/11/2023, 3:34 AM

It feels so weird when it's actually snappier than the original UI.

by synaesthesisxon 5/11/2023, 6:52 AM

Just tried this on Vercel…the funny thing is it’s actually more responsive than real Win11..

by rickstanleyon 5/11/2023, 3:31 AM

Clearly incomplete, no ads in the start menu!

by shp0ngleon 5/11/2023, 7:36 AM

Missing all the constant Edge, Bing and OneDrive pop-ups and ads.

(Speaking of which. Why is MS allowed to do all that stuff when they got record fine in the 90s for less? Eh, better not ask.)

by jonplacketton 5/11/2023, 6:41 AM

Why is everyone so obsessed with replicating such a terrible UI as windows.

I had to go back to windows this week because the software to run a massive LED curtain we bought for the office window will only run with this 10 yo windows software. And it was horrible. Just horrible.

by oaieyon 5/11/2023, 5:20 AM

There is something with this idea: recreate a desktop environment in the browser. I have done it in the late 90s (obviously in PHP), and until today they show up regularly. Once MacOS, once windows, in svelte, in react, whatever. I thought it/I was brilliant then but nowadays I cannot even grasp the idea on why I did that.

Never seen any in production for anything, and the only remnants like movable panels of properties always feel misplaced on web pages/apps.

by graypeggon 5/11/2023, 2:42 AM

Some (evil) part of me wants to set this up as a live desktop in Wallpaper Engine on a friend’s PC. Looks accurate! Good job

by MisterTeaon 5/11/2023, 2:23 PM

At the bottom of the readme is a huge spammy star this project advertisement with animated images. I cant help but laugh at the irony of a project which replicates the experience of Windows 11 - an OS with integrated self promoting Ads - itself displays spammy self promoting ads. The same github user has this same spam on every repo - no wonder they are a Windows fan, right at home with spam.

by nwmcsweenon 5/11/2023, 3:59 AM

This is actually more responsive than the Windows 11 Desktop..

by elijahbenizzyon 5/11/2023, 3:13 AM

Was able to go three levels of recursion deep until it crapped out. This is awesome!

by low_tech_punkon 5/11/2023, 3:10 AM

Have you tried opening https://win11-svelte.vercel.app/ inside the edge browser inside the app? I think the recursion taps out after the second layer.

by alg0rithon 5/11/2023, 4:07 AM

Let's not give Microsoft any more ideas

by ronsoron 5/11/2023, 2:36 AM

Already better UX than the original

by revskillon 5/11/2023, 3:40 AM

When open Bing, there should be a bunch of "crappy stuffs" like Ads and Popups. Also, adding a small delay when open any windows to be more realistic.

by fmirason 5/11/2023, 2:42 AM

Just wondering, is this useful in any way other than a recretional/research project?

by beebeepkaon 5/11/2023, 6:44 AM

I am so bummed almost no one is hiring to do svelte here in Bulgaria. And if they do, the pay is like half of react pays.

Spending the nights learning is not ideal as that consumes stamina required for the job that pays my bills.

I think Svelte's approach would win over in a few years. As nice as Vue is, getting rid of virtual DOM makes total sense.

by spencerchubbon 5/11/2023, 4:10 AM

I don't know why but this gave me a quick dopamine hit. It's fun to play with and looks nice

by aetherspawnon 5/11/2023, 4:28 AM

Amazing, it's more performant than the real thing.

by frozenporton 5/11/2023, 3:11 AM

Unrealistic: no spyware!

by andsoitison 5/11/2023, 4:36 AM

Caveat: this is not, in fact, an implementation or enablement of Windows in Svelte!

by supermatton 5/11/2023, 7:36 AM

45kb of js uncompressed for the app, vs 5x that for google tag manager.. wtf is gtm doing that it needs to be 5x the size of a window manager.

by jcarranoon 5/11/2023, 8:57 AM

Funny I don't know how this is supposed to look like because I haven't used Win11. Icons look sort of dithered or something.

by maxlohon 5/11/2023, 3:54 AM

> Fun Fact - It has a Lighthouse score of 100

Last time I checked several years ago, `backdrop-filter` is buggy on my laptop. Is it more optimized now?

by LegitShadyon 5/11/2023, 2:51 AM

I'm a windows user. I have windows on 3 computers. The only devices that don't run windows are an ipad and an android phone.

I don't understand why I'd want the windows 11 experience anywhere I wasn't forced to have it. I heard they may soon restore some of the features they took away from the start bar, though.

by angelmmon 5/11/2023, 7:31 AM

I love the fact that I can start a new Windows 11 in Svelte in the Code editor recursively. Really cool job!

by codethiefon 5/11/2023, 11:56 AM

Similar project for Android that the author contributed to as well: https://github.com/blueedgetechno/androidInReact

by intrasighton 5/11/2023, 4:30 AM

Reminds me of a bygone era when I had played around with doing something similar: Windows NT in IE5. It was a very useful learning exercise as I'm sure this one was.

by mhoadon 5/11/2023, 6:09 AM

Just by way of comparison for a real world example. As far as I know Chrome OS and Chrome itself is more or less all Lit for the UI.

by secalexon 5/11/2023, 2:53 AM

Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.

by csk111165on 5/11/2023, 6:39 AM

How to run this project, do we need to install it locally, cant we see it with a web link provided by you??

by mihaalyon 5/11/2023, 6:14 AM

... but why?!

by pwrrron 5/11/2023, 7:46 AM

whyyy

by ddtayloron 5/11/2023, 2:48 AM

I kind of find the excessive usage of emoticons and such distracting.