For sure, sync is another big challenge. Once you had "third party storage from the browser" you could manage sync.
I've been all over browser filesystem access too (you could e.g. use syncthing to sync from the filesystem) and it's just too clunky for users to use still.
Also tried building a chrome extension in an attempt to use the sync storage that's available to extensions (used to sync your settings across devices), but it's crippled by being maxed out at only 100kb.
Yeah, browser filesystem access is ridiculously clunky, especially if it’s a more of a “document you’re iterating on” where you have to remember to download it, make sure it’s in the right place to sync, and upload it again on the other devices. I think the thing that third-party storage really wins at is that it’s very low friction and pretty close to universally available for a semi-technical user (e.g. drawio/diagrams.net supports OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, GitHub, and Gitlab). Chrome extensions are relatively high friction in comparison, plus… in my personal example, I don’t actually use Chrome on any of the devices. Safari on iPhone and iPad, Firefox on Windows/Linux/OS X.
Comments
For sure, sync is another big challenge. Once you had "third party storage from the browser" you could manage sync.
I've been all over browser filesystem access too (you could e.g. use syncthing to sync from the filesystem) and it's just too clunky for users to use still.
Also tried building a chrome extension in an attempt to use the sync storage that's available to extensions (used to sync your settings across devices), but it's crippled by being maxed out at only 100kb.
Yeah, browser filesystem access is ridiculously clunky, especially if it’s a more of a “document you’re iterating on” where you have to remember to download it, make sure it’s in the right place to sync, and upload it again on the other devices. I think the thing that third-party storage really wins at is that it’s very low friction and pretty close to universally available for a semi-technical user (e.g. drawio/diagrams.net supports OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, GitHub, and Gitlab). Chrome extensions are relatively high friction in comparison, plus… in my personal example, I don’t actually use Chrome on any of the devices. Safari on iPhone and iPad, Firefox on Windows/Linux/OS X.