Comment by TZubiri
21 days ago
Might be better to provide a downloadable executable instead of asking the user to trust that the browser isn't doing what the browser was designed to do.
21 days ago
Might be better to provide a downloadable executable instead of asking the user to trust that the browser isn't doing what the browser was designed to do.
I disagree on that. I think that the main value of this kind of tools is "no installation required".
There are already free PDF editors that can be downloaded and installed once forever. What I used most is Libreoffice Draw: it imports a PDF, edit it as if it were a file in its own format, export as PDF again. It's not the only choice. Firefox has had a vanilla PDF editor since last year: download a PDF or drag one inside the browser window, edit it, save it. It's enough to add a PNG of my signature and fill out forms.
I plan to build a Chrome extension and am considering making it paid, around $2 for lifetime access. Also Desktop app is also good idea
Extensions have the downside that a malicious actor can buy out the original dev and start using them as an intrusion point.
Unlike websites?
It's possible to run WebAssembly programs from the command line (without any GUI) using WASI (see e.g. https://github.com/WebAssembly/WASI). Thus if the user downloads pdfconverter.wasi , and the user already has e.g. wasmtime installed, they can run `wasmtime pdfconverter.wasi input.pdf output.pdf` from the command line (see https://github.com/bytecodealliance/wasmtime/blob/main/docs/... for details).
In addition to the web site, the Electron app and the Chrome extension, you may want to distribute a command-line version of your tools as WASI-style .wasm program files. If you do so, I would exclusively use the them this way, from the command line.
Don’t make either unless you have the resources to support them. Anything paid is also a business process with tax implications.
Local-only web apps are great one-off projects, but extensions and native apps require much more maintenance.
Make the Desktop Version natively, even tho its time efficient to make it just Electron
yah noted I will do
Disagree, no way I'm downloading an executable from something unknown to modify a pdf.
I can easily check network monitor in the browser to see exactly what a web app is doing.
Running an executable is a risk by default and the way it interacts with my network is way less transparent. I honestly prefer this in the browser.
Most users don't know how to do that
Even less users know how to do this with an executable.