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Scrappy – Make little apps for you and your friends

pontus.granstrom.me

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Re: Scrappy – Make little apps for you and your friends

#111

Post by panphora »

owebmaster wrote: post #108
panphora wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm building a self-modifying HTML runtime inspired by TiddlyWiki [0]. It lets you build "HTML apps" in a single file with plain CSS/JS. These apps are shareable and hostable, but you can also download and use them locally as offline apps [1]. The cool thing is each HTML file is able to modify/overwrite itself, so users can use the app's own UI to modify it (e.g. a dashboard where users can add new fields by clicking…

Hyperclay is quite interesting, well done! But to use it we need to install an app? I think the UX of tiddlywiki that just work is better

No app installation needed, Hyperclay files are just HTML files, so they work like TiddlyWiki in that regard. You can download them and use them locally with any text editor, or even implement TiddlyWiki's saving mechanism if you prefer that workflow.

The key difference is when you want to share your creation on the web. With TiddlyWiki, you typically share a read-only version, requiring visitors to download and save their own copy. With Hyperclay, you can host that same HTML file on any server and live-edit it directly in your browser (if you're the owner). When people clone it, their clone is shareable and available on the web.

So you get the best of both worlds: the simplicity of a single HTML file that "just works" offline, plus the ability to publish it as a living document that you can edit directly in the browser.

Think of it as TiddlyWiki's philosophy extended to the shared web. Same single-file simplicity, but now your changes can be seen by others.

Re: Scrappy – Make little apps for you and your friends

#112

Post by owebmaster »

panphora wrote: post #111
owebmaster wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hyperclay is quite interesting, well done! But to use it we need to install an app? I think the UX of tiddlywiki that just work is better

No app installation needed, Hyperclay files are just HTML files, so they work like TiddlyWiki in that regard. You can download them and use them locally with any text editor, or even implement TiddlyWiki's saving mechanism if you prefer that workflow. The key difference is when you want to share your creation on the web. With TiddlyWiki, you typically share a read-only version, requiring visitors to download and save…

> Think of it as TiddlyWiki's philosophy extended to the shared web.

Sorry but I'm having issues seeing this as a feature. TiddlyWikis can be shared as easily as sending an attachment. Running a server, tho, is not simple at all for the common user.

Re: Scrappy – Make little apps for you and your friends

#114

Post by nico »

al_borland wrote: post #70

I like the spirit of it, but the execution isn't what I'm looking for. With this being a hosted solution, it makes me dependent on another SaaS tool for little personal projects. If it's a little counter needed for an afternoon, that's not such a big deal. However, if I'm looking for a scrappy little app I may use for years, this is a problem. Plus, no matter how low the learning curve gets, it will still exist, so I…

> I typically end up using basic HTML/CSS/JS for stuff like this today

Depending on your tolerance for basic ai coding, you might enjoy openjam.ai

You can build silly stuff like this (better seen on desktop):

* https://openjam.ai/lonely_ant_702/bajbin4neo

* https://openjam.ai/stupid_coral_852/qg8yembjg5

* https://openjam.ai/stupid_coral_852/y2hj69iqvo

Re: Scrappy – Make little apps for you and your friends

#115

Post by WillAdams »

panphora wrote: post #102
slightwinder wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This looks like something that should be done like a TiddlyWiki. A TiddlyWiki is a whole Webapplication in a single HTML-File. Traditionally, when you change something, you just save the HTML-File and it self-replicates with the new data. There are now also TiddlyWikis which can save to backends and probably some other ways. Building a whole platform around self-replicating HTML-files with optional backend-access see…

I'm building a self-modifying HTML runtime inspired by TiddlyWiki [0]. It lets you build "HTML apps" in a single file with plain CSS/JS. These apps are shareable and hostable, but you can also download and use them locally as offline apps [1]. The cool thing is each HTML file is able to modify/overwrite itself, so users can use the app's own UI to modify it (e.g. a dashboard where users can add new fields by clicking…

This looks _very_ cool --- does it align with:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/192405005-hypermedia-sys...

(and if not, are you aware of a book which touches on/explains your technique?)

Do you think a visual tool for this could be created? (something like Lazarus or Interface Builder or QT Designer...)

Re: Scrappy – Make little apps for you and your friends

#116

Post by p2hari »

Nice, I am in the process of building one with a similar concept but in a single HTML/JS file. Sharing with friends and multi-user. Might release it in a week or two as I am getting closer to put final finishing touches. Not sure if I have to go open source or closed and Freemium. Might ask HN later :)

Re: Scrappy – Make little apps for you and your friends

#117

Post by panphora »

WillAdams wrote: post #115
panphora wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm building a self-modifying HTML runtime inspired by TiddlyWiki [0]. It lets you build "HTML apps" in a single file with plain CSS/JS. These apps are shareable and hostable, but you can also download and use them locally as offline apps [1]. The cool thing is each HTML file is able to modify/overwrite itself, so users can use the app's own UI to modify it (e.g. a dashboard where users can add new fields by clicking…

This looks _very_ cool --- does it align with: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/192405005-hypermedia-sys... (and if not, are you aware of a book which touches on/explains your technique?) Do you think a visual tool for this could be created? (something like Lazarus or Interface Builder or QT Designer...)

Yes, there's definitely philosophical alignment with the hypermedia approach: keeping things simple and leveraging HTML's native capabilities. In fact, I use hypermedia-oriented techniques on all the dashboard pages in the Hyperclay web app.

But in Hyperclay apps, the DOM is the source of truth -- there's nothing else. So there's no need for more than a single AJAX call (to save the page). HTMX is built to support a more traditional multi-page stack, whereas Hyperclay is built around single-file HTML apps.

The idea is that every HTML file is its own visual tool for modifying its own UI/data. For instance, you could build a page layout editor that lets users drag-and-drop components, and the editor itself would be part of the saved HTML file. An infinite variety of visual tools can (and will) be built on top of this structure.

As for essays about this vision, I'd recommend "Local-first software" [0] and "Malleable software" [1]

[0] https://www.inkandswitch.com/essay/local-first/

[1] https://www.inkandswitch.com/malleable-software/

Re: Scrappy – Make little apps for you and your friends

#119

Post by edmundsauto »

al_borland wrote: post #70

I like the spirit of it, but the execution isn't what I'm looking for. With this being a hosted solution, it makes me dependent on another SaaS tool for little personal projects. If it's a little counter needed for an afternoon, that's not such a big deal. However, if I'm looking for a scrappy little app I may use for years, this is a problem. Plus, no matter how low the learning curve gets, it will still exist, so I…

I use Cursor and vibe code this stuff, it works great! I just built a flight tracker (I live in a flight path) that uses a SDR to receive ADS-B info from overhead flights and enrich it with flight info from the local airport, then display in a train station style flippy board. My wife loves knowing where the flights are going and so I display on our magic mirror

I know almost nothing about the underlying technologies, can barely code JS for the front end. But after about 10 hours of coding, I’ve got a very neat little app - it’s something that would have taken me 2 months then become abandonware after I got frustrated.

This was such a positive experience with vibe coding that it restored my love for code. Resulting quality seems pretty decent - maybe 1200 sLOC with good logging, performance, and what I would say is decent pro-am code quality. (IE above the median quality for typical commercial code, I’d bet)

Re: Scrappy – Make little apps for you and your friends

#120

Post by fuzztester »

zigman1 wrote: post #74
fuzztester wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

examples?

My very first thing was automation of placing my journal entry to appropriate Google Drive folder. I write my brain dump/journal everyday in Google Docs, and if I just click "New document, it places it in the root GDrive folder, and I had to move it manually which I am to lazy to do it. LLM helped me write a python script that searches the root folder, finds the right document (name is always the date of the day), an…

sounds like some cool automations, thanks.

by api you mean youtube api?

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