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Web apps in a single, portable, self-updating, vanilla HTML file

hyperclay.com

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Re: Web apps in a single, portable, self-updating, vanilla HTML file

#101

Post by codedokode »

I would like web standards have better support for pages stored in a local file (opened using file:// protocol). Sometimes I write simple HTML/Vue based mini-apps for myself and every time something doesn't work and I need workarounds, for example:

- local HTML file cannot import local JS modules, so I have to use legacy writing style

- local HTML file cannot open other local files (for example, audio files)

I understand that there is a risk if we allow local HTML files to access anything, but there should be some way - for example, a file or directory might have some suffix that allows access to it.

I do not want to use a web-server because it feels like overengineering and I don't want to open a terminal, navigate to a directory and start a server every time, it takes too much time. I just want to type the URL and have my app running.

Re: Web apps in a single, portable, self-updating, vanilla HTML file

#102

Post by pmarreck »

I too have an odd obsession with keeping everything in 1 file.

I recently (as an experiment) exclusively vibe-coded an Asteroids clone (with a couple of nifty additions), all in a single HTML file, including a unit test suite, which also works on either desktop or mobile: https://github.com/pmarreck/vibesteroids/blob/yolo/docs/inde...

Playable version (deployed via github docs) is here: https://pmarreck.github.io/vibesteroids/ Hit Esc to pause and see instructions (pause should be automatic on mobile; can re-pause by tapping top center area).

Type shift-B (or shake mobile device... you also would have had to approve its ability to sense that on iOS) to activate the "secret" ability (1 per life)

No enemy UFO's to shoot (yet) but the pace does quicken on each level which feels fun.

It doesn't update itself, however... (and I just noticed it has a test fail, and a test rendering bug... LOL, well at least the tests are valid!)

Re: Web apps in a single, portable, self-updating, vanilla HTML file

#103

Post by pier25 »

BoppreH wrote: post #35

For people who are confused: Hyperclay is a NodeJS server and frontend JS library that allows HTML pages to update their DOM and then replace their own .html source with the updated version. Imagine clicking a checkbox, which adds the `checked` attribute to its element, then using Hyperclay to globally persist this version of `document.body.outerHTML`, so that it's there next time someone visits the page. There's aut…

The idea would work a lot better with something like Cloudflare Workers. You don’t really need it to run 24/7 and it would fall into the free tier.

Re: Web apps in a single, portable, self-updating, vanilla HTML file

#104

Post by cluckindan »

codedokode wrote: post #101

I would like web standards have better support for pages stored in a local file (opened using file:// protocol). Sometimes I write simple HTML/Vue based mini-apps for myself and every time something doesn't work and I need workarounds, for example: - local HTML file cannot import local JS modules, so I have to use legacy writing style - local HTML file cannot open other local files (for example, audio files) I unders…

A significant hindrance for generator-type apps is that only pages loaded via HTTPS have access to the clipboard API, so ”copy to clipboard” does not work via file:///.

You can have a zero-build zero-dependency offline-only app which users could theoretically just save as a page, but copy buttons will not work, so you have to detect the API not being available and replace buttons with popover textareas. Clunky.

As for running a local server, VS Code devcontainers are the solution. Open your workspace, it runs the devcontainer, and you have a server up without extra hassle. Add a command to generate certs and you can have HTTPS locally.

Re: Web apps in a single, portable, self-updating, vanilla HTML file

#105

Post by dogemurder »

I really like this. If you ever plan an AMI with this, deploying hyperclay on maybe a t3 instance, installing Node.js via the package manager (https://docs.aws.amazon.com/sdk-for-javascript/v3/developer-...), and then setting up the Hyperclay server using npm to handle requests, I think a lot of startups could be users. Would it be fair to say that Hyperclay could offer a lean way to rapidly prototype and iterate on MVPs, like landing pages, dashboards, or user-feedback-driven tools, where frontend changes (e.g., A/B testing UI elements) automatically update the underlying HTML source for instant deployment??

If it was marketed to startups to reduce development overhead by eliminating separate build pipelines or servers, allowing small teams to focus on core features rather than infrastructure, definite winner. Not sure how much your into AWS but this made me think of an AWS partner we use HostJane could use Hyperclay to help bundle cost-optimized spot instances for testing (mainly tech startup clients - https://www.hostjane.com), then push out a seamless CI/CD via CodePipeline, global distribution through CloudFront, Hyperclay could enable clients to scale from proof-of-concept to production affordably while maintaining full control over their app's evolution without vendor lock-in. Potentially doing away with complex databases or backend frameworks... amazing, well done!

Re: Web apps in a single, portable, self-updating, vanilla HTML file

#108

Post by AlienRobot »

codedokode wrote: post #101

I would like web standards have better support for pages stored in a local file (opened using file:// protocol). Sometimes I write simple HTML/Vue based mini-apps for myself and every time something doesn't work and I need workarounds, for example: - local HTML file cannot import local JS modules, so I have to use legacy writing style - local HTML file cannot open other local files (for example, audio files) I unders…

It's been a while, but if I remember correctly you can't use some /WEBGL features on images that are loaded from file:// URLs because of CORS (I think it was off-screen canvas). The only workaround I found was to embed the images inside the HTML using base64.

Re: Web apps in a single, portable, self-updating, vanilla HTML file

#110

Post by hiccuphippo »

codedokode wrote: post #101

I would like web standards have better support for pages stored in a local file (opened using file:// protocol). Sometimes I write simple HTML/Vue based mini-apps for myself and every time something doesn't work and I need workarounds, for example: - local HTML file cannot import local JS modules, so I have to use legacy writing style - local HTML file cannot open other local files (for example, audio files) I unders…

Windows used to have HTA applications, html files with a different extension that opened in a browser without menus and had access to filesystem APIs over javascript (jscript). It was probably a security nightmare, but I could see a modern version of that built on electron. Access to a folder and a sqlite db would be enough.

There's also Orca for building sandboxed wasm apps but it removes the browser and the Dom and only gives you a canvas to work with.

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