How to store your app's entire state in the url (scottantipa.com)

Article summary

The article discusses a technique for storing an application's entire state in a URL, allowing users to share and access their data without needing to sign in or store it on a server. This is achieved by encoding the application state as a Base64 string in the URL's hashmark. The author uses this approach in their flowchart editor, Knotend, to enable easy sharing and collaboration. The technique also provides a simple undo/redo functionality using the browser's history stack.

Main themes

• URL-based state storage
• Application state encoding
• Data sharing and collaboration
• Browser limitations and usability
• Alternative storage approaches
• Data compression and optimization
• Security and abuse concerns
• Use case suitability and limitations

What commenters say

• Using the URL's hashmark to store application state is a viable approach, but it has limitations, such as potential truncation by browsers or chat apps.
• Storing large amounts of data in the URL can lead to usability issues, such as extremely long URLs that are difficult to share or copy.
• Alternative approaches, such as using local storage or a backend server, may be more suitable for certain use cases, especially when dealing with large amounts of data.
• The technique can be optimized by using compression and encoding to reduce the size of the URL.
• Some commenters argue that using the URL's hashmark is not suitable for storing large amounts of data and that other approaches, such as local storage, should be used instead.
• Others suggest that using a combination of approaches, such as storing a hash sum in the URL and the actual state in a JavaScript object, can help mitigate the limitations of the technique.
• There are concerns about the potential abuse of storage if the data is stored on a CDN or other centralized server.
• The approach can be useful for certain use cases, such as sharing flowcharts or other visualizations, but may not be suitable for more complex applications or larger datasets.