[whatwg] Proposal for local-storage file management

[Michael Nordman]

On Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 11:12 AM, Jens Alfke <snej at google.com> wrote:

>
> On Aug 28, 2009, at 10:51 AM, Brady Eidson wrote:
>
> I would *NOT* be on board with the spec requiring anything about "where the
> file goes on the filesystem."  I have never been convinced by the argument
> that users always need to be in charge of where in a filesystem directory
> tree every single file on their computer needs to go.
>
>
> I wouldn't want the spec to require that either. At that high level, I
> think it should just state that:
> • Local storage may contain important user data and should only be deleted
> by direct action of the user.
> • The user must be allowed to decide whether code from a particular
> security domain is allowed to store persistent data locally.
> • The user must be able to see how much disk space each domain is using,
> and delete individual apps' storage.
>
> The first item (which is basically already in the spec) allows web-apps to
> store user-created content safely.
> The second item helps prevent abuse.
> The third item helps the user stay in control of her disk (and provides the
> 'direct action of the user' mentioned in item 1.)
>
> My suggestion involving the Save As dialog is just to show a feasible way
> to implement those requirements on a desktop OS in a way that makes it
> fairly clear to the user what's going on.
>
> I'm a huge fan of the "my mom" litmus test.  To my mom, the filesystem is
> scary and confusing.  But using the browser to manage browser-related things
> is familiar and learnable.
>
>
> What I like about using the regular Save As dialog box is that almost every
> user has some experience with it, and knows that it means *this app wants
> to put files on my disk*. Naive users tend to just hit Enter and let
> everything be saved to a default location, which is fine. (In OS X, the
> default collapsed state of the Save panel supports that.) Users who are
> savvy with the filesystem know how to navigate to a different directory if
> they want, or at least look at where the file's going to be saved by
> default.
>
>
This works well for storing user generated content (save-as, open what i
saved earlier), doesn't work so well for application data that is less user
perceptible.

It also doesn't look like the type of security-nag dialog that people
> instinctively OK without reading.
>
> —Jens
>
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