Re: Emacs Webapp/Plugin

[joakim@verona.se]

Paul Michael Reilly <pmr@pajato.com> writes:

> Someone tell me again why it is a bad idea to develop a
> Chrome/Chromium (browser or Chrome OS) plugin that is essentially just
> the basic Emacs bits that we know and love? I did sort of raise this
> issue a while back to no avail but it is an itch that just won't go
> away.
>
> The underlying premise is that there are no "desktop" apps available
> on this imagined system, just web apps and browser plugins. Using this
> system, I will visit a site that has a text file, think DropBox or
> Google Drive or some such, for example. This text file is in fact an
> org-mode text file. So I want Chrome to automagically recognize this
> and invoke an Emacs plugin to edit the document. Now, as near as I can
> tell, this particular plugin is not available in the Chrome App store,
> or anywhere else. I kind of expected/hoped Steve Yegge would have
> written it by now but ... he's probably too busy just being famous (or
> infamous).
>
> In any case, how practical/impractical is it to talk about this group
> of developers producing such a tool using the current code base?
>
> Left to my own devices, I would be inclined to write the plugin first
> trying not to modify Emacs internals but I have a hunch that will
> prove impractical. Once there are internal Emacs changes required the
> question arises on how best to package the tool in the bazaar sources.
>
> Would this notion be a variant of the ability to "embed" Emacs into
> another app?

I'm not really sure what youre asking, but embedding Emacs in a browser
would not be too hard. Its already mostly possible with the window id
flags. See emacswiki for examples. If you are asking how to simply make
Emacs handle particular urls downloaded by the browser, thats also
possible, and in Firefox you need a plugin that you configure, should
work the same with Chrome.

If you are asking if its possible to deploy emacs to the google
appstore, and install it as a chrome plugin, that should be technically
possible.

Lastly, I dont think this is what you asked, but its also possible to
embedd webkit in emacs, in the emacs xwidget branch. (webkit is the
renderer chrome uses, more or less)

>
> -pmr
>

-- 
Joakim Verona