Stele

<img align="right" alt="Image of a Maya stele at Copan, by Frederick Catherwood" src="/resources/copan.png" />

Stele is an exhibit kiosk browser, built for the museum environment.

This app is meant to serve as a full-screen wrapper that simply views an existing web application.

Download the latest release for Windows or macOS.

Install and setup

Detailed instructions for:

• Windows 10
• macOS

Change kiosk URL

When you start the app, and no URL is set, you will be directed to the settings page to enter a URL for your kiosk view.

When operating the app in kiosk mode use the Cmd+, keyboard shortcut to access the settings page.

Keyboard shortcuts

WARNING: The application tries to enter kiosk mode (full-screen) after you configure a URL to browse. Use these keyboard shortcuts to exit or hide the app.

When running the application you can use a few keyboard shortcuts to control the program. This can be useful when debugging a kiosk application in an exhibit.

| Action | Windows | macOS | | --- | --- | --- | | Settings page | <kbd>Ctrl</kbd> + <kbd>,</kbd> | <kbd>Cmd</kbd> + <kbd>,</kbd> | | Reload page | <kbd>Ctrl</kbd> + <kbd>R</kbd> | <kbd>Cmd</kbd> + <kbd>R</kbd> | | Open dev tools | <kbd>Ctrl</kbd> + <kbd>Shift</kbd> + <kbd>I</kbd> | <kbd>Cmd</kbd> + <kbd>Opt</kbd> + <kbd>I</kbd> | | Hide application^* | <kbd>Ctrl</kbd> + <kbd>H</kbd> | <kbd>Ctrl</kbd> + <kbd>H</kbd> | | Quit application | <kbd>Ctrl</kbd> + <kbd>Q</kbd> | <kbd>Cmd</kbd> + <kbd>Q</kbd> |

* Hide application works on Windows. On Mac, we simply open the file explorer, pushing the Stele application into the background.

Security warning

This app is built on the Electron runtime and is under active development. It doesn't yet follow all of Electron's best-practices around system security. Stele is primarily designed for local content that you trust. Don't configure it to browse to web content you don't trust. Web content theoretically could have access to execute system commands on your local machine. Better checks, will be added in future releases.

Development

Follow the development instructions to make changes to the Stele source code.

Credit

What's a Stele?

A stele (/ˈstiːli/ STEE-lee) is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected in the ancient world as a monument.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stele

We initially began developing this software during the production of the Science Museum of Minnesota's exhibit on the Maya people, "Maya: Hidden Worlds Revealed." Our physical kiosks for that exhibit drew upon the design of the Maya stelae, inspiring the software name.

Upstream

This project's structure was initially generated using szwacz's great electron-boilerplate.

This webpack configuration is based off the electron-react-boilerplate.

Media

The image of a stele at Copan in this README is a public domain sketch by Frederick Catherwood.

The stele app icon is a modified version of Atif Ashrad's Touch Gestures icons from the Noun Project, (CC BY 2.0)