Look inside the webOS OSE Settings menu from source
Two top-level entries and sixty-six rows underneath them: this is what a television menu looks like when it is stripped to the parts a developer actually needs. Because the project is open source, the titles, their order and their nesting here are taken from the source verbatim, which makes it a rare chance to read a real menu tree with no guesswork.
At a glance
webOS OSE runs here as a working television. You navigate it the way you would the physical thing: tap a row, land on its screen, go back, take a different branch. Every number below was counted directly from that tree.
- 2top-level entries
- 66rows in total
- 5levels deep
- 1version
| Device family | TV and streaming |
|---|---|
| Frame shown | Television |
| Versions | OSE 1.1 |
| Deepest path | 5 levels below the main list |
| Interface languages | 12, switchable while you browse |
| Account needed | No — it runs entirely in your browser |
How webOS OSE organises Settings
General and Network. That is the entire top level, and the restraint tells you what the Open Source Edition is for: it is a base that a manufacturer or a hobbyist builds on, not a finished consumer product. General carries Language, Time & Date and System Information, the three things any device must answer for itself. Network carries Device Name, Wired Connection (Ethernet), Wi-Fi Connection and Wi-Fi Security. There is no store, no account, no picture-mode gallery, because none of that belongs to the platform itself. What remains is the skeleton a shipping television would dress.
The surprise is the depth. Two entries at the top, yet five levels underneath, because network configuration refuses to be simple: choosing a connection leads to picking an interface, then a network, then a security method, then the fields that method needs. That is where most of the sixty-six rows live. Set beside a retail television menu with a dozen top-level categories, this one looks almost empty at first glance and then turns out to be just as deep where it matters. It is a good demonstration that breadth and depth are separate measurements.
Three settings worth finding
Settings > Network > Wi-Fi SecurityThe branch that decides how the device proves itself to a network, and the reason a two-entry menu still runs five levels deep. Worth walking once to see how many fields sit behind a choice that looks like a single dropdown.
Settings > General > System InformationWhere a device reports what it is running. Everything shown here is a sample value rather than a real build, but the page is useful because it is the first thing anyone asks for when reporting a fault on an embedded system.
Settings > Network > Device NameThe label other machines on the network see. Trivial on one device, important the moment you have several, and easy to overlook because it sits in the network branch rather than in a general identity screen.
Versions of webOS OSE you can open
A single build of webOS OSE is included. The tree is complete, so nothing is out of reach.
How this menu got here
webOS began as a phone platform, was reworked for televisions, and later gained an openly published edition intended for developers and for devices beyond the living room. That edition keeps the platform layer and leaves out the retail extras, which is why its Settings tree is so short at the top. Because the code is public, the menu structure shown here is extracted rather than reconstructed. Only one version is offered, OSE 1.1, which reflects a project that publishes deliberate releases rather than a stream of consumer updates.
Who this is useful for
Developers evaluating the platform for a kiosk, a signage panel or an embedded screen, who want to know what the base system offers before installing anything. Students studying how a real product's interface is structured, using a tree they can check against published code. Writers and testers who need accurate menu names for documentation. It also suits anyone curious about how much of a television's menu belongs to the manufacturer rather than the platform.
What is real and what is sample data
The structure is the real thing: menu names, their order, how they are grouped and what sits inside each one. That is why this article can quote a path such as Settings > Network > Wi-Fi Security and expect it to match your television.
The state cannot be. A device name, an address, a build number, a network name, a storage figure, whether a particular switch is on or off — those belong to a physical television, not to a menu tree. Those values appear here as clearly-marked samples. They are there so the row has the right shape, and they should never be read as a fact about a real television.
Try it yourself
Give yourself a task — change a language, find a privacy switch, locate a build number — and do it in webOS OSE here first. The step recorder will keep the route for you. Comparison mode will hold webOS OSE next to another system if you want to see the two layouts against each other. And if you know the setting but not the section, search for it by name across all 43 systems at once.
Open webOS OSE in the simulatorFree, no account, works offline — 66 settings rows across 1 version.Key points
- webOS OSE shows 2 top-level entries and 66 rows in total, nested up to 5 levels.
- Menu names and their order come from the settings tree itself, so the paths quoted here match the real television.
- Device-specific figures on screen are placeholders; the structure around them is not.
Questions about webOS OSE settings
Is this the same as the webOS on a retail television?
No. The Open Source Edition is the published platform, and a retail set adds a great deal on top, including store, account and picture features that are not part of the base. Expect the fundamentals to feel familiar and the consumer layer to be absent entirely.
How accurate are these menu names?
The titles, their order, their grouping and their nesting are taken from the open source, so they are one to one with the real thing. What cannot be one to one is device state: a name, an address or a build string belongs to a physical machine, so those appear as clearly marked samples.
Why is there only one version available?
Because the project publishes occasional deliberate releases rather than the steady stream of updates a consumer television receives. OSE 1.1 is the version covered here. If you want to see how differently other systems handle the same job, the comparison mode puts two trees side by side.