Show HN: Bento - An entire PowerPoint in one HTML file (edit+view+data+collab) • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Bento - An entire PowerPoint in one HTML file (edit+view+data+collab)

#171

Post by chr15m » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 4:27 AM UTC

starfallg wrote: post #2

Hi, I'm the creator of Bento. Just wanted to share a bit more about how I created it beyond what's in Github. The file contains more or less two sections. There is a plain block of JSON near the top of the file which is the slide data. You can read, grep, or point a harness at it. The app itself is in a base64 blob that loads through a small shim which deflates in the browser with DecompressionStream, which keeps the…

Would be cool to use Nostr relays, then you don't have to depend on the proprietary CloudFlare infrastructure.

Re: Show HN: Bento - An entire PowerPoint in one HTML file (edit+view+data+collab)

#172

Post by aag » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 4:51 AM UTC

pembrook wrote: post #80

aag wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm don't care. If it's good, it's good.

Agreed, but the days of software projects being ambitious or impressive are over.

Ambition is still a human characteristic.

Re: Show HN: Bento - An entire PowerPoint in one HTML file (edit+view+data+collab)

#173

Post by razster » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 4:56 AM UTC

Would it be possible to use your mouse to slide, pan left and right instead of using the direction keys? Assuming it is touch enabled? Just wondering.

Re: Show HN: Bento - An entire PowerPoint in one HTML file (edit+view+data+collab)

#174

Post by hdrz » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 5:28 AM UTC

There is also impress.js[1], a 3d infinite canvas for slides which I used in the past. You write your content as plain html in a single file, very easy.

[1]: https://impress.js.org

Re: Show HN: Bento - An entire PowerPoint in one HTML file (edit+view+data+collab)

#175

Post by maxloh » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 5:32 AM UTC

HTML and CSS feel fundamentally better suited for slide decks than JSON. At their core, most slides just boil down to simple flexbox structures:

  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │ ┌─ Row 1 Container ───────────────────┐ │
  │ │ ┌─ 4-way padding ─────────────────┐ │ │
  │ │ │ [ Text Content ]  (child node)  │ │ │
  │ │ └─────────────────────────────────┘ │ │
  │ └─────────────────────────────────────┘ │
  │                  ↕ gap                  │
  │ ┌─ Row 2 Container ───────────────────┐ │
  │ │ ┌─ 4-way padding ─────────────────┐ │ │
  │ │ │ [ Text Content ]  (child node)  │ │ │
  │ │ └─────────────────────────────────┘ │ │
  │ └─────────────────────────────────────┘ │
  │                  ↕ gap                  │
  │ ┌─ Row 3 Container ───────────────────┐ │
  │ │ ┌─ 4-way padding ─────────────────┐ │ │
  │ │ │ [ Text Content ]  (child node)  │ │ │
  │ │ └─────────────────────────────────┘ │ │
  │ └─────────────────────────────────────┘ │
  └─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Layouts like this are naturally expressed using CSS and a layout tree, rather than forced into hardcoded coordinates.

Re: Show HN: Bento - An entire PowerPoint in one HTML file (edit+view+data+collab)

#176

Post by unixhero » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 5:39 AM UTC

Mind blowing... I can't believe all of this is in one file.

Re: Show HN: Bento - An entire PowerPoint in one HTML file (edit+view+data+collab)

#177

Post by appplication » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 5:44 AM UTC

starfallg wrote: post #2

Hi, I'm the creator of Bento. Just wanted to share a bit more about how I created it beyond what's in Github. The file contains more or less two sections. There is a plain block of JSON near the top of the file which is the slide data. You can read, grep, or point a harness at it. The app itself is in a base64 blob that loads through a small shim which deflates in the browser with DecompressionStream, which keeps the…

Very cool! FYI I was able to cause all sorts of hell by pinch zooming on mobile safari. This seemed to throw off the click and drag select box and on one occasion crashed the page entirely.

Re: Show HN: Bento - An entire PowerPoint in one HTML file (edit+view+data+collab)

#178

Post by jasonkester » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 5:59 AM UTC

pembrook wrote: post #72

aag wrote: post #46

What an ambitious and impressive project! I'm going to try it. One note: The home page says "Nothing phones home," but the Bento files I've examined include a cloudflareinsights.com beacon.

By ambitious and impressive do you mean for Claude? Because while cool this is clearly heavily vibe coded.

Actually, for me, being llm generated makes this more impressive because it marks the first real world example of a genuine new product built with ai that I have ever seen.

For 6 years I’ve been reading hype about amazing productivity boosts from this stuff, but until now the expected flood of cool new products never arrived. Just lots of tools and harnesses and swarm coordination stuff to help companies spend more money on the hype cycle.

But finally somebody actually built an app and released it. I call that a milestone.

Re: Show HN: Bento - An entire PowerPoint in one HTML file (edit+view+data+collab)

#179

Post by Y-bar » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 6:44 AM UTC

miduil wrote: post #104

hilti wrote: post #57

Great project. But please check the name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bento_(database)

Bento is perfect reasonable name for an all in one solution - no? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bento

Personally I would have gone for Lotus to avoid any naming confusions with other software.

Re: Show HN: Bento - An entire PowerPoint in one HTML file (edit+view+data+collab)

#180

Post by pipipi01 » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 6:57 AM UTC

amazing!