From 71b3e44e8a9277cba987f2a9fdc4440871c08d80 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Steve Biedermann <hardliner66@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2026 17:57:17 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] feat(ui): add simulation about dialog

Co-Authored-By: GitHub Copilot <noreply@github.com>
---
 CHANGELOG.md  |  1 +
 ui/Cargo.toml |  2 +-
 ui/src/lib.rs | 45 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 ui/style.css  | 67 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 4 files changed, 113 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 80bf830..792a208 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ Notable changes to this project are documented here.
 
 ### Added
 
+- Add an About dialog explaining the simulation, shards, actors, and persistence.
 - Docker Compose runs the gateway and each shard in its own container, with one persistent SQLite volume per shard.
 - Public clients are view-only: the UI hides editing controls and the server rejects remote writes; localhost clients retain editing access.
 - Expose the Picard actor console over the `/api/actors/ws` WebSocket endpoint.
diff --git a/ui/Cargo.toml b/ui/Cargo.toml
index fcfb1be..276c61f 100644
--- a/ui/Cargo.toml
+++ b/ui/Cargo.toml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ leptos = { version = "0.8", features = ["csr"] }
 wasm-bindgen = "=0.2.129"
 wasm-bindgen-futures = "0.4"
 js-sys = "0.3"
-web-sys = { version = "0.3", features = ["CanvasRenderingContext2d", "HtmlCanvasElement", "HtmlElement", "MouseEvent", "WheelEvent", "AddEventListenerOptions", "EventTarget", "WebSocket", "MessageEvent", "Location", "Element", "DomRect", "HtmlDivElement", "Window", "Storage"] }
+web-sys = { version = "0.3", features = ["CanvasRenderingContext2d", "HtmlCanvasElement", "HtmlElement", "HtmlDialogElement", "MouseEvent", "WheelEvent", "AddEventListenerOptions", "EventTarget", "WebSocket", "MessageEvent", "Location", "Element", "DomRect", "HtmlDivElement", "Window", "Storage"] }
 gloo-net = { version = "0.6", default-features = false, features = ["http", "json"] }
 gloo-timers = { version = "0.3", features = ["futures"] }
 serde = { version = "1", features = ["derive"] }
diff --git a/ui/src/lib.rs b/ui/src/lib.rs
index 5bdc8df..fd47b0f 100644
--- a/ui/src/lib.rs
+++ b/ui/src/lib.rs
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ fn App() -> impl IntoView {
     let param = RwSignal::new(String::new());
     let amount = RwSignal::new("5".to_string());
     let can_edit = RwSignal::new(false);
+    let about_dialog = NodeRef::<leptos::html::Dialog>::new();
     // (selection counter, people at the time of selection); the counter forces editor rows to rebuild.
     let editing = RwSignal::new((0u64, Vec::<Person>::new()));
 
@@ -293,7 +294,49 @@ fn App() -> impl IntoView {
             ></canvas>
             </div>
             <div class="side">
-                <h3>"World"</h3>
+                <div class="panel-heading">
+                    <h3>"World"</h3>
+                    <button on:click=move |_| {
+                        if let Some(dialog) = about_dialog.get() {
+                            let _ = dialog.show_modal();
+                        }
+                    } aria-label="About World Simulation">"About"</button>
+                </div>
+                <dialog class="about-dialog" node_ref=about_dialog>
+                    <div class="about-header">
+                        <div>
+                            <p class="about-kicker">"WORLD SIMULATION"</p>
+                            <h2>"A living world, running in shards"</h2>
+                        </div>
+                        <button
+                            class="about-close"
+                            on:click=move |_| {
+                                if let Some(dialog) = about_dialog.get() {
+                                    dialog.close();
+                                }
+                            }
+                            aria-label="Close about dialog"
+                        >"Close"</button>
+                    </div>
+                    <p>
+                        "This is an ongoing simulation of a small world. People and wildlife move, gather resources, work, trade, form families, and respond to the rules in the world's Rune behavior script."
+                    </p>
+                    <h3>"One world, several shards"</h3>
+                    <p>
+                        "The map is divided into vertical regions called shards. Each shard runs its own part of the simulation, and entities that cross a boundary are handed to the shard that owns their new position. The gateway coordinates their steps and combines their views into this map."
+                    </p>
+                    <h3>"Actors and persistence"</h3>
+                    <p>
+                        "Each person, animal, partnership, market, workplace, and cart is managed by an actor. Shards save their own world snapshots, so the simulation can resume after a restart."
+                    </p>
+                    <div class="about-actions">
+                        <button on:click=move |_| {
+                            if let Some(dialog) = about_dialog.get() {
+                                dialog.close();
+                            }
+                        } autofocus=true>"Done"</button>
+                    </div>
+                </dialog>
                 {move || state.with(|s| s.as_ref().map(|s| {
                     let (h, m) = (s.hour.floor(), (s.hour.fract() * 60.0).floor());
                     view! {
diff --git a/ui/style.css b/ui/style.css
index e95cbee..bd76e1c 100644
--- a/ui/style.css
+++ b/ui/style.css
@@ -48,6 +48,73 @@ canvas {
     box-sizing: border-box;
 }
 
+.panel-heading {
+    display: flex;
+    align-items: center;
+    justify-content: space-between;
+}
+
+.panel-heading h3 {
+    margin: 1em 0;
+}
+
+.about-dialog {
+    width: min(560px, calc(100vw - 40px));
+    max-height: min(640px, calc(100vh - 40px));
+    padding: 24px;
+    overflow: auto;
+    border: 1px solid #56615c;
+    border-top: 3px solid #9bbf8a;
+    border-radius: 4px;
+    background: #171b19;
+    color: #ddd;
+    font: inherit;
+    line-height: 1.6;
+}
+
+.about-dialog::backdrop {
+    background: rgb(0 0 0 / 72%);
+}
+
+.about-dialog h2 {
+    margin: 4px 0 12px;
+    font-size: 20px;
+    line-height: 1.3;
+}
+
+.about-dialog h3 {
+    margin: 22px 0 4px;
+    color: #b7d1a8;
+    font-size: 14px;
+}
+
+.about-dialog p {
+    margin: 8px 0;
+    color: #c2c9c4;
+}
+
+.about-header {
+    display: flex;
+    justify-content: space-between;
+    align-items: flex-start;
+    gap: 16px;
+}
+
+.about-kicker {
+    color: #a7c895 !important;
+    font-size: 11px;
+}
+
+.about-close {
+    flex: none;
+}
+
+.about-actions {
+    display: flex;
+    justify-content: flex-end;
+    margin-top: 20px;
+}
+
 .side input[type=number] {
     width: 56px;
 }