Description

Admin Desktop OS

A SellingIt.org product — commercial WordPress plugin distributed by sellingit.org.

Reimagines the WordPress admin (wp-admin) as a desktop-style operating environment: a full-screen workspace with draggable, resizable windows, a dock for launching admin screens, a live clock, and a server status widget. The experience is opt-in per user so administrators can enable or disable desktop mode without affecting other accounts.

Product Information

Product: Admin Desktop OS

Version: 1.0.0

Publisher: SellingIt.org

Website: https://sellingit.org

License: Proprietary

Table of contents

  • Purchase & support
  • Overview
  • Features
  • Requirements
  • Installation
  • Enabling and disabling desktop mode
  • Using the desktop
  • Dock applications
  • Server info widget
  • How it works
  • Security and privacy
  • Limitations and compatibility
  • Troubleshooting
  • Development
  • Changelog
  • License

Purchase & support

Admin Desktop OS is sold and supported by SellingIt.org

  • Store & product info: https://sellingit.org
  • Purchases, renewals, and license terms handled through SellingIt.org
  • Support available through sellingit.org

This repository or zip is intended for licensed customers only.

Inside WordPress, the plugin list shows SellingIt.org as the author and links to Product page and Support on sellingit.org.

The desktop top bar brand also links to SellingIt.org

Overview

When desktop mode is active for your account, the standard WordPress admin chrome (left menu, admin bar, screen options, footer) is hidden and replaced with:

  1. Top bar — branding, your display name, a live clock, and logout link
  2. Desktop area — wallpaper, server info widget, and one or more admin windows
  3. Dock — quick-launch buttons for common admin sections

Each dock item opens a window that loads the real wp-admin screen inside an iframe.

You interact with WordPress normally inside the window while the shell manages layout, movement, resizing, minimizing, maximizing, and closing.

Features

Feature: Desktop shell
Description: Full-viewport dark UI with top bar, workspace, and dock

Feature: Multi-window
Description: Open several admin screens at once; click a window to bring it to the front

Feature: Draggable windows
Description: Drag by the title bar to reposition

Feature: Resizable windows
Description: Drag the bottom-right corner (minimum 320×220 px)

Feature: Window controls
Description: Yellow = minimize content, green = maximize to workspace, red = close

Feature: Dock launcher
Description: Six shortcuts: Dashboard, Content, Media, Plugins, Appearance, Settings

Feature: Live clock
Description: Updates every second via AJAX using site timezone

Feature: Server widget
Description: Displays site name, URL, WP/PHP/MySQL versions, DB size, disk space, memory, server software; refreshes every 60 seconds

Feature: Per-user opt-in
Description: Enable or disable on your user profile

Feature: Iframe-safe URLs
Description: Inner admin pages load with ?ados_iframe=1

Feature: Profile exception
Description: Desktop shell disabled on the profile screen

Requirements

  • WordPress 5.0+
  • PHP 7.4+ recommended
  • manage_options capability
  • Browser with JavaScript enabled
  • MySQL with information_schema access for DB size support

Installation

  1. Obtain Admin Desktop OS from https://sellingit.org
  2. Upload or copy the admin-desktop-os folder into wp-content/plugins/
  3. Activate Admin Desktop OS in Plugins
  4. Desktop mode is automatically enabled for all existing users on activation

Configuration is managed per user under Users → Profile.

Enabling and disabling desktop mode

Default behavior

  • Empty or unset ados_enabled meta defaults to enabled
  • Explicit saves store 1 or 0

Ways to toggle

  1. Admin notice
  2. User profile
  3. Query toggle via ?ados_toggle=1

Only users with manage_options can access these controls.

When desktop mode is never shown

Desktop mode does not load when:

  • User is not logged in
  • User is in Network Admin
  • Request includes ?ados_iframe=1
  • Browser sends iframe request headers
  • User is on the Profile screen

Using the desktop

Opening apps

Click a dock icon to launch or focus a window.

Window management

Title bar drag
Move window

Bottom-right corner
Resize window

Yellow button
Minimize content

Green button
Maximize or restore

Red button
Close window

Click window or iframe
Bring to front

Duplicate dock launches focus existing windows instead of creating duplicates.

Logging out

Use Log out in the top bar.

Returning to classic admin

Disable desktop mode in your profile and reload the admin page.

Dock applications

🏠
App id: dashboard
Title: Dashboard
URL: index.php

✏️
App id: posts
Title: Content
URL: edit.php

🖼️
App id: media
Title: Media
URL: upload.php

🔌
App id: plugins
Title: Plugins
URL: plugins.php

🎨
App id: appearance
Title: Appearance
URL: themes.php

⚙️
App id: settings
Title: Settings
URL: options-general.php

All URLs append ados_iframe=1.

Server info widget

The widget uses the ados_desktop_status AJAX action with mode=full.

It displays:

  • Site name and URL
  • WordPress version
  • PHP version and SAPI
  • MySQL version and DB size
  • Disk space
  • Uploads directory info
  • PHP memory settings
  • Current memory usage
  • Server software

Clock requests use mode=clock.

Both require a valid nonce and manage_options.

How it works

Architecture

wp-admin page (shell enabled)

  • #ados-desktop-root
    • topbar
    • clock
    • user info
    • logout
    • desktop area
      • server widget
      • windows
        • iframe → admin URL with ados_iframe=1
    • dock

Classic admin UI is hidden with CSS.

WordPress hooks

admin_init
Handles toggles

show_user_profile / edit_user_profile
Profile UI

personal_options_update / edit_user_profile_update
Save settings

admin_notices
Enable notices

admin_enqueue_scripts
Load inline assets

in_admin_header
Render shell

wp_ajax_ados_desktop_status
AJAX endpoint

User meta

Key: ados_enabled

Values:

  • 1 = enabled
  • 0 = disabled
  • empty = enabled by default

Assets

  • Inline CSS and JS
  • Uses Google Fonts Inter

Activation hook

Sets ados_enabled = 1 for all users on activation.

Security and privacy

  • Uses manage_options
  • AJAX protected with check_ajax_referer
  • Toggle URLs protected with nonce verification
  • Output escaped with WordPress escaping functions
  • Server metrics visible only to administrators
  • Google Fonts loaded externally from fonts.googleapis.com

Limitations and compatibility

  • Not a complete replacement for wp-admin navigation
  • Some plugins may block iframe usage
  • Window positions are not persistent
  • Minimize only hides content
  • Disabled in multisite network admin
  • Some fullscreen plugins may conflict
  • Emoji icons depend on system support

Troubleshooting

Issue: Classic admin still visible
Try:

  • Enable desktop mode
  • Hard refresh
  • Verify you are not on Profile or Network Admin

Issue: Blank iframe window
Try:

  • Check browser console
  • Verify iframe permissions
  • Test URL without ados_iframe

Issue: Server widget shows “—”
Try:

  • Verify disk access functions
  • Verify DB permissions

Issue: Clock not updating
Try:

  • Verify manage_options
  • Check admin-ajax.php
  • Check JavaScript errors

Issue: Cannot disable desktop
Try:

  • Open Users → Profile and disable it there

Issue: Google Fonts blocked
Try:

  • Disable firewall or ad blocker
  • Use fallback fonts

Development

File structure

admin-desktop-os/

  • admin-desktop-os.php
  • README.md

Extending

Edit render_desktop_shell() and dock button data-* attributes to add apps or change URLs.

AJAX reference

Action: ados_desktop_status

Method: POST

Parameters

nonce
Nonce from adosDesktop.nonce

mode

  • clock
  • full

Success response includes:

  • data.time
  • data.timezone
  • data.site

Localized script object

adosDesktop= { ajaxUrl: '.../admin-ajax.php', nonce: '...' };

Changelog

1.0.0

  • Initial release
  • Desktop shell
  • Dock launcher
  • Draggable and resizable windows
  • Server widget
  • Per-user enablement

License

Proprietary software published by SellingIt.org

  • Unauthorized redistribution prohibited
  • Licensing handled through SellingIt.org
  • All rights reserved

Copyright © SellingIt.org