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Ask HN: Can you share websites that are pushing the utility of browsers forward?

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31–40 of 135 posts

Re: Ask HN: Can you share websites that are pushing the utility of browsers forward?

#31

The WebAudioModules (WAM) have some very cool demos if you're into music: https://www.webaudiomodules.org/wamsynths/ I've been learning tone.js as of late

I'm doing a ShowHN right now for a webapp to learn music sight reading: www.babeloop.com

It currently uses Tone.js for timing accuracy. Tone.js is pleasant to work with, but directly interacting with web audio context isn't too hard either, so IDK if the tradeoffs are really worth it.

Re: Ask HN: Can you share websites that are pushing the utility of browsers forward?

#32
https://webwormhole.io and https://file.pizza both use WebRTC for p2p file transfer. They differ quite a lot in UX but both are really useful: it's 2022 and sending files to one another still seems to be a pain without tools like these.

Re: Ask HN: Can you share websites that are pushing the utility of browsers forward?

#33

The WebAudioModules (WAM) have some very cool demos if you're into music: https://www.webaudiomodules.org/wamsynths/ I've been learning tone.js as of late

Do you know if there's similar to a VST standard for WAM? Would be interested in the possibility of online DAWs that can import plugins and open up for marketplaces where developers can build and publish these.

I've been thinking about this too, and it would be cool. I'm pretty sure no such standard exists though.

Re: Ask HN: Can you share websites that are pushing the utility of browsers forward?

#34

We are building https://studio.foxglove.dev/ which is a visualization tool for robotics. Click “Explore sample data” to see a demo. Uses WebGL and some WebAssembly.

The left nav and menu is reminiscent of VSCode. I'm not accusing the project of plagiarism. I think more standardization, especially with menus, instead of reinventing the UX wheel for every project is a good thing. Is the code for the left nav widget open source? I want to use it, too.

Re: Ask HN: Can you share websites that are pushing the utility of browsers forward?

#35

I feel like this isn't exactly what you're asking for, but the storytelling in: https://www.sbnation.com/a/17776-football feels like it opened up new my thoughts on how something could be communicated via the medium of the Internet and just made me think to some extent how woefully underutilized the browser/internet has been used as a story telling medium (at least to my limited experiences of these things)

That was fun :) thanks for sharing!

Re: Ask HN: Can you share websites that are pushing the utility of browsers forward?

#36
My site https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/ uses WebGL, Web Workers, WASM, Service Workers, Notifications API, Geolocation API, probably some other web platform features I'm forgetting.

The use of workers and WASM is not obvious, but on page load it takes the current orbit parameters for every orbiting satellite that is potentially visible anywhere on Earth and calculates the future position of each satellite every few minutes for the next 5 days, and then checks each future position for visibility from your location (accounting for sun angle, earth occlusion, sky brightness etc), all client side before page load finishes. WASM allows me to use the canonical satellite propagation tools (SGP4, written in ancient C translated from Fortran) and workers let me use multiple cores and not block the UI too much.

Re: Ask HN: Can you share websites that are pushing the utility of browsers forward?

#38

My site https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/ uses WebGL, Web Workers, WASM, Service Workers, Notifications API, Geolocation API, probably some other web platform features I'm forgetting. The use of workers and WASM is not obvious, but on page load it takes the current orbit parameters for every orbiting satellite that is potentially visible anywhere on Earth and calculates the future position of each satellite eve…

I had a mild jaw-drop moment when it showed my house on a starry night with the satellite passing overhead! Very cool website

Re: Ask HN: Can you share websites that are pushing the utility of browsers forward?

#39
We built https://cleanfeed.net/ which is an online studio for pro audio.

Chances are if you enjoy radio, podcasts or movies, especially during the pandemic, that you've listened to something produced using Cleanfeed. In many cases you wouldn't even realise that co-host or guest is remote.

Re: Ask HN: Can you share websites that are pushing the utility of browsers forward?

#40

My site https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/ uses WebGL, Web Workers, WASM, Service Workers, Notifications API, Geolocation API, probably some other web platform features I'm forgetting. The use of workers and WASM is not obvious, but on page load it takes the current orbit parameters for every orbiting satellite that is potentially visible anywhere on Earth and calculates the future position of each satellite eve…

Amazing, minor nitpick it shows the ISS as visible over Ireland at approx 9pm tonight, pretty bright in Ireland at that time at this time of year, will check and report back if it was visible. Great work, you have amazing talent!
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