Startpage

Overview

Startpage is a local-first browser start page designed to replace the traditional new tab with a personal dashboard you fully control.

Configuration and personal content stay in the browser without accounts or tracking. Network widgets only contact their documented data providers; transport and RSS use the Startpage proxy to handle browser API restrictions.

Version: v1.18.1 · Live: https://julianverse.de/startpage/

Core Features

• Quick search: Multiple engines, bang shortcuts (!g, !ddg, !bing, !sx, !yt, !wiki, !maps), custom shortcuts, and autocomplete (bangs, shortcuts, recent searches, global wordlist + preset wordlist).
• Background engine: Presets, uploads, collections, rotation (time/theme/interval), quick actions (random, undo, lock), automatic accent color extraction, and IndexedDB-backed image storage.
• Favorite tiles: Drag and drop, quick access keys 1-9, and reset to defaults.
• To-do and notes: Persistent to-do list and notes field.
• Weather: Multiple cities with quick city chips (switch/remove), current weather + min/max, and a rolling 24-hour forecast in 3-hour steps via Open-Meteo.
• Transport: Station search, departures, delay handling, retry states, and a configurable default station via the Startpage proxy for transport.rest.
• News: RSS reader with default and custom feeds via the Startpage RSS proxy; the list adapts to the selected widget height (4/8/16 entries). “Open in Julianverse News” opens the selected feed through a Magic Link; “All sources” opens the regular News homepage.
• Resilient data widgets: Weather, transport, and news keep timestamped browser caches for offline/error fallback. Hidden widgets defer their network requests until enabled.
• Recent actions and system status: History chips plus browser info (RAM, CPU cores, network type).
• Setup assistant: Modern onboarding with direct preset tiles, theme/style + background, search engine, widgets + transport default, and one weather city (skippable and restartable).
• Visual widget editor: Toggle an on-dashboard editing mode, drag and drop widgets, and change card width or height directly. Editing controls disappear when the mode is closed.
• Layout and styling: Dark/Light/Auto theme, card styles (glass, solid, transparent, soft minimal), widget colors, dedicated header/search colors, and a "Tint widgets" action.
• Command palette: Ctrl/Cmd+K for quick actions across settings, themes, widgets, data export/import, presets, and profiles.
• Profiles: Named local snapshots of the full Startpage setup with create, rename, update, delete, apply, header quick switcher, and command palette support.
• Data: Scoped JSON export/import with selection dialogs, import replace/merge modes, and data presets from assets/presets/ (starter, coding, gaming, minimal, productivity, reading, art, privacy, student, finance). Transfers are restricted to Startpage-owned storage keys, and local user presets in assets/user-presets/ are auto-detected.
• Accessibility and safety: Labelled modal dialogs, focus trapping/restoration, keyboard ordering, safe external URL handling, and text-only rendering for untrusted feed content.
• Optional local Agent: An opt-in Ollama chat is available but disabled by default and is not required for any dashboard feature.

Project Structure

• index.html - Main markup and ordered script includes.
• scripts/ - Browser scripts split by feature area.
• style.css - Main styles.
• assets/ - Optional assets (wordlists, images, presets, i18n files).
• tests/ - Playwright browser smoke tests.
• package.json / playwright.config.js - Test tooling; the application itself still has no build step.
• LICENSE - MIT license for the project code and documentation.
• THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md - Licenses and notices for bundled third-party assets.

Local Development

No build step is required. Start a local static server, for example:

python -m http.server 4173

or

npx serve .

Then open: http://localhost:4173.

Configuration and Extension

• Background and appearance: Manage presets/uploads/collections/rotation in Settings; accent color is derived from the active background.
• Search and feeds: Enable/disable engines, configure custom !shortcuts with {q}, manage feed sources.
• Widgets and layout: Visibility, weather cities (one city per line), default transport station, and reset controls. Start the visual editor from the header or Widget settings to arrange and resize cards directly.
• Appearance (same settings area): Card style, widget colors, dedicated clock/search colors.
• Data: Export/import selected Startpage-owned data scopes as JSON, choose merge or replace behavior on import, or load ready-made data presets (assets/data-presets.json + assets/presets/*). Unrelated localStorage entries from the same origin are excluded.
• Profiles: Create named setup snapshots, update them from the current state, switch from the header, and manage them in the Data tab.
• Setup assistant: Opens on first run, can be skipped, and can be restarted in the Data tab.
• Command palette: Ctrl/Cmd+K for fast actions, settings navigation, data actions, presets, and profile switching.

Follow existing conventions: 2-space indentation, camelCase in JavaScript, hyphen-case in CSS. Keep the script include order in index.html stable unless dependencies are moved deliberately.

Data and Integrations

• Storage: localStorage for settings, personal widget content, and timestamped data-widget caches; IndexedDB for uploaded and cached background images.
• APIs and services: Open-Meteo (weather/geocoding), Startpage proxy (transport.rest + RSS), and Google Favicon Service for tile icons. UI fonts are bundled locally.

Testing

Install the test dependency and run the browser smoke suite:

npm install
npx playwright install chromium
npm test

The nine current tests cover local persistence, scoped data export, deferred requests for hidden widgets, safe RSS rendering, height-adaptive news, transport delay formatting, saved layouts, the visual widget editor, and modal accessibility.

Manual smoke tests:

• Verify search/bangs/shortcuts + autocomplete.
• Add multiple weather cities, switch active city, remove one city (x and middle-click), press Enter in weather input, then reload.
• Create todos/notes and reload.
• Switch theme/card style, verify background rotation + accent updates.
• Switch feeds and test custom feed loading.
• Create a profile, change visible settings, apply the profile again, and verify the previous setup is restored after confirmation.
• Export/import selected data scopes and test both merge and replace behavior with a temporary backup.
• Clear localStorage and the Startpage IndexedDB database when re-testing migration-sensitive storage flows.

License

The original project code and documentation are available under the MIT License (see LICENSE). Bundled third-party assets remain under their respective licenses; see THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.

Optional Julianverse Account sync

Open Settings → Account to sign in to Julianverse through a popup. Enable the desired categories in Account, then explicitly choose Upload local data or Use cloud data for each category. Signing in alone does not upload app content. The open app then syncs changes with ownCloud, retaining offline edits locally. Conflicts require choosing a version; both versions and local backups can be downloaded.

Supported: notes, tasks, bookmarks, theme, language, visible widgets, colors and enabled search engines. Profiles, backgrounds, images, search history, API keys and agent configuration remain local. Files are stored in Julianverse/startpage/ in ownCloud.

Sign-in and enabled categories survive reloads and browser restarts on this device. A Secure/HttpOnly Account cookie renews short-lived access tokens held only in memory. Temporary connection failures show the remembered account and retry automatically. An API request rejected with an expired access token is renewed and retried once. The session lasts up to 30 days, unless revoked earlier. Turning sync off or signing out preserves local data. A different account in another tab stops the previous account's sync. Local use does not require an account or a reachable Account server.

The dependency-free modules in account/ are copied from Julianverse Account. To host another copy, register a public OIDC client with its exact HTTPS account-callback.html URL, then update account/config.mjs (public configuration only). No client secret belongs in this app. The callback must retain access to its opener; do not add a restrictive Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy without adapting the login flow.

Remembered sign-in requires the app and Account to share a site (as with julianverse.de and account.julianverse.de). Other hosts need a matching deployment; this integration does not depend on third-party cookies.

Zentrale Rechteseiten

Der Footer verlinkt das zentrale Impressum und die Datenschutzerklärung. Bei optionalem Account-Sync gelten ergänzend die Account-/ownCloud-Datenschutzhinweise.