Idea: Browser Extension which adds remoteStorage to arbitrary web apps (which use localStorage) about remotestorage.io

[xMartin]

I like the idea.

One question comes to my mind: How do you know it's a local storage app? The extension could check if there's anything in local storage but normal sites also do funny stuff here like caching.

Am 22.11.2012 um 07:40 schrieb shybyte [email protected]:

There are a lot of web apps in the wild which use localStorage to store data.

I think it would be great to add remoteStorage to them by an browser extension which just sync the localStorage of the wep apps to the remoteStorage of the user. The browser extension should allow to configure which apps should get synced. This can be done with one mouse click ("Add remoteStorage"/"Remove remoteStorage") on a toolbar button. By default the data would be synced to an directory named like the apps url, but it should be possible for the user to configure the directory optionally.

Clearly an app that gets unhosted in this way will not work as smooth as it could be. For example it might be necessary for the extension to reload the whole app in order to get the data reloaded in the app. But it is better than waiting forever until an app gets unhosted "naturally".

What do you think about the idea?
If you think it's a great idea, I would volunteer to prototype the chrome extension.

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Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[silverbucket]

What would the data look like in the users remoteStorage ? they will be
arbitrary data structs, so im not sure what the benefit for the user would
be?

On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 8:30 PM, xMartin [email protected] wrote:

I like the idea.

One question comes to my mind: How do you know it's a local storage app?
The extension could check if there's anything in local storage but normal
sites also do funny stuff here like caching.

Am 22.11.2012 um 07:40 schrieb shybyte [email protected]:

There are a lot of web apps in the wild which use localStorage to store
data.

I think it would be great to add remoteStorage to them by an browser
extension which just sync the localStorage of the wep apps to the
remoteStorage of the user. The browser extension should allow to configure
which apps should get synced. This can be done with one mouse click ("Add
remoteStorage"/"Remove remoteStorage") on a toolbar button. By default the
data would be synced to an directory named like the apps url, but it should
be possible for the user to configure the directory optionally.

Clearly an app that gets unhosted in this way will not work as smooth as
it could be. For example it might be necessary for the extension to reload
the whole app in order to get the data reloaded in the app. But it is
better than waiting forever until an app gets unhosted "naturally".

What do you think about the idea?
If you think it's a great idea, I would volunteer to prototype the
chrome extension.

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com//issues/20#issuecomment-10729957.

[jancborchardt]

We discussed this in the past and to say that from the start – anyone who wants to do it is welcome to.

We weren’t sure if it’s worth the time, because of several reasons:

• you can’t install browser extensions everywhere
• most serious apps which use localstorage have another account system, which would work better and from any computer
• the data can’t be reused by other apps
• if the app uses localstorage and is really good, we should just add remotestorage natively
• »it uses localstorage« is not an indicator of a good app
• apps often use localstorage in weird ways, or not for all data, etc.

And probably some more. It’s more of a »just because we can« thing, but would result in an overall sub-par experience. We went for the either-right-or-not approach, and I still think that’s better.

What are the specific apps you mean where you would like to see remotestorage? If they are open source, open an issue regarding that in their tracker and encourage them about it – maybe they’ll add it.

[shybyte]

@xMartin yes automatically detecting if the app works with localStorage syncing is pretty impossible, but the adventurous user could just try it or find working apps links on a wiki page.

@silverbucket Benefit: I could e.g. use http://fatiherikli.github.com/mockup-designer from my 2 computers at home and from others at work, right now, without any code change. Developers would not need to learn a new technology, just use the well known localStorage for simple apps.

@jancborchardt I just got the idea from https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/unhosted/9_cD3vm7upU where once again, an existing webapp where remoteStorage should be added, was proposed.

I wondered if adding remoteStorage support manually into apps is the "wrong layer", in the same way like you would not propose to "Add USB drive support to Open Office".

But the list of reasons against this generic approach is pretty convincing.

[michielbdejong]

ok, yeah, i think it is indeed the wrong layer. see https://github.com/RemoteStorage/remotestorage-bookmarks-chrome for an example of a "bookmarking bookmarklet" though, that's kinda neat. :)