You'd think so, but web browsers are downright lobotomizing the ability for local HTML files to run any meaningful javascript code. Want to run a JS file from the same directory? CORS ERROR!!!!
replyHence 200MB applications that are complete copies of the Chromium browser to run under 1MB of actual web code.
couldn't you just embed the js directly into the html file though? that would sidestep the CORS error. and since most of the people using a program like this are likely to be using AI to generate their ( likely throwaway ) applets anyway, readability and maintainability for the source doesn't matter as much as it would with human authors so having a separate js file doesn't bring that many advantages anyway.
replySharing HTML files with embedded Javascript is problematic: iOS users can't open the files directly, and have to save the file and then 'open with ... '.
replySounds like iOS is problematic.
replyIsn't that the price of a relatively well sandboxed experience by browsers?
replyI've experienced the same limits building small tools for myself and friends that I wanted to contain in a single HTML file without external dependencies... but I understand why the same project without these restrictions could easily become malware, and ones that could be easily propagated.
I wish the browser would either allow local-only or internet-only, then only make up its mind after the first attempted request. Fetch an image from the internet? No script access for local files. Fetch a JS from elsewhere on the hard drive? No internet access. That could provide the sandbox while still being flexible.
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replyThe problem is that you can't save the user data in way that you can click a single file, similar to a Word or Excel file. I you think a about it, a Excel spreadsheet is also just UI + data in a single file.
replyThis is a frustration of mine as well, but I vaguely remember someone showing something on HN where the file could essentially save itself, I think they were using some file APIs for that... sadly I can't find the details anymore. But I keep running into the "HTML file opened locally can't update itself" issue repeatedly now that I build tools for myself with LLM agents.
replyAre you thinking of Nash? a standalone editable note as HTML that was featured on HN some time ago.
https://keepworking.github.io/nash/
replyThe File System Access API can do this, and it works in local ("file:///") HTML files, but it's only currently supported in desktop Chromium browsers: https://caniuse.com/native-filesystem-api
replyHowever, every browser will let you download a new version of the HTML file and save it over the old one - yes, even from a local HTML file:
const blob = new Blob(['<!DOCTYPE html>\n' +
document.documentElement.outerHTML],
{ type: 'text/html' });
const a = document.createElement('a');
a.href = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
a.download = 'mypage.html';
a.click();
This is the approach Bento took I believe (similar idea, but just for decks): https://github.com/nyblnet/bento.
replySaw it on HN a few weeks back
Technically that was more MS Access :-)
replyThat reminds me of TiddlyWiki[1], a wiki application in the form of a single self-contained HTML file.
replyI imagined the capsule website would be able to either convert or directly run/open them
reply