What it is
Tell the Universe is a playful, minimalist space to “let go” of a thought. You post a short message; it becomes a floating, glowing “star.” Visitors watch the constellation of human snippets.
Simple change log
- 🌠 Shooting‑star rating: tap the star on any post to give it a shooting star. The total is shared across devices.
- ✨ Ambient shooting stars: reduced frequency for a calmer sky.
- 📱 Android flicker fix: smoother page load (URL‑bar resize jitters are filtered), less canvas flicker.
- 🦊 Firefox performance: fog is pre‑composed for better FPS; banding reduced with subtle dithering.
How it works
- Write a message and submit. It floats around the sky and occasionally fades in/out so the scene keeps changing.
- Tap 🌠 on a post to send it a shooting star. Counts are persisted on the server and shown to everyone.
- Share: tap Share on a post to create a small “postcard” image. If your device supports it, the native share sheet opens; otherwise you can download the image and share it manually. Sharing is generated in your browser—no third‑party trackers.
- Optional ambient Sound uses randomized clips from
/sounds(mobile requires a tap to start).
Privacy & Data
- No account needed; no public profiles.
- Your message text is stored for display—please avoid personal data.
- Shooting‑star ratings: We store an integer count per post and a hashed IP per post to prevent multiple votes. The raw IP isn’t stored.
- Sharing: the share image is rendered locally in your browser; we don’t upload it anywhere.
- Basic server logs (IP, user‑agent) may be retained briefly for security; no third‑party ad trackers.
Removal request? Contact us (see Imprint) with the text and approximate time.
Tech bits
- Frontend: vanilla JS, GPU‑friendly canvas stars/fog with adaptive performance.
- Performance: Android flicker guard (stable viewport sizing), Firefox fog tile precompose, reduced-motion support.
- Backend: lightweight PHP endpoints (
get.php/post.php/rate.php). - Storage: SQLite for posts and rating counts.
- Audio: HTML5
<audio>with gesture gating on mobile.
FAQ
Can I delete my post? Not from the UI yet. Email us; we’ll remove it manually.
Why does the fog look slightly different on Firefox? To keep things smooth, Firefox uses a pre‑composed fog layer. Visuals are nearly identical with much better performance.
Why does the star count persist across devices? Ratings are stored on the server (SQLite). We also set a local flag so you can’t re‑vote from the same browser.
Why does sound sometimes need a second toggle on mobile? Mobile autoplay policies require interaction; a second toggle after touching the page usually works.
Moderation
We remove content that’s illegal in DE/EU or hateful/harassing/doxxing/spammy. This is an art/meditation project—keep it kind.
Credits
Concept & build: Tell the Universe. Thanks to early users for feedback on animations, sound, Android tuning, and the 🌠 rating idea.