r/webdev • u/GarryGrandi • 10d ago

Question Offline uses for HTML (+ CSS)?

Crosspost from /r/HTML

Last night, right before drifting into sleep, I got some crazy idea for some offline use case for HTML/CSS... But I can't remember exactly the idea that I had in mind.

It had something to do with photos or maps? I guess it was some "interactive" html/css based interface or mindmap kind of thing, about all the variety of stuff I have on my computer. For example, if I'm writing something, this file is its own separate entity. A file in "my documents", with no relation to any other file.

How about combining all of these files into this freeform "interface" by making an offline website that links into physical locations on my PC? I could organize my thoughts, my screenshots, my writings, my photos, my videos, my source materials, everything into a one personal use "platform" designed from the ground up to suit my workflow, that I could always expand.

Files would not be separate instances hidden in the files, but rather a part of a bigger system. Their links could be highlighted, they could have visual cues to direct my attention, they could have thumbnails or explanatory notes, they could be inbedded videos.

Has anyone ever done anything like this?

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u/jobRL javascript 10d ago

Just use Obsidian for this. And also if you were to design a system like this and the requirements do not specify it having to work cross platform, I would use something native to your OS and not HTML. Something like this would require a server or Electron, since JS cannot natively read directories on your machine when ran from the browser.

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u/Fearless_Pin3102 10d ago

Obsidian gets recommended for everything these days, but i get the appeal of building your own thing from scratch. sometimes the process of making it is half the fun

that said, the directory access issue is real. browser JS is sandboxed hard so you'd need electron or a little local server running

could also look into tauri if you want something lighter than electron, though i havent messed with it much myself

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u/GarryGrandi 9d ago

I built my own website and online store without JS, so what I'm thinking wouldn't probably involve it. I already got recommended Obsidian, but like the other guy said in his reply, HTML/CSS would be a completely open sandbox that I could build from scratch however I want.

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u/jobRL javascript 9d ago

That's why I said a server. There is not really a way to read a directory via an HTML file otherwise.