4 ms·

I wish there was an HTML shell, where applications can output not just text, but structured text, tables, even images. Where an application could have an 'easy

I wish there was an HTML shell, where applications can output not just text, but structured text, tables, even images. Where an application could have an 'easy mode' for uncommon tasks where it just prints a user interface with a few buttons.

zokier 5y ago
DomTerm is maybe the closest thing.
chriswarbo 5y ago
Notebooks like Jupyter sound similar; although they are more persistent, whilst shells are more ephemeral (whether that's a good thing or not!)
mindwok 5y ago
This sounds pretty similar to what Powershell does. You can list the contents of the directory which outputs a structured table, then pipe that into Out-GridView for an interactive GUI window.
- Renaud 5y ago
  I had never heard of Out-GridView and it's awesome!
rkeene2 5y ago
There previously was such a thing from Mozilla called XMLTerm [0]. You could be the one to revive it ! [0] https://www.xml.com/pub/2000/06/07/xmlterm/index.html https://www.xml.com/pub/2000/06/07/xmlterm/index.html
xyst 5y ago
I can see the benefits of structured output from CLI tools. It’s a bit rare to find but they do exist. I believe the closest I have found in the wild is a terminal instance connecting to some 1980s mainframe tech. There are also some FOSS tools aimed at increasing the readability of CLI tools https://github.com/charmbracelet/lipgloss https://github.com/charmbracelet/lipgloss Doesn’t offer tables (yet) but is about as good as it’s going to get. For “easy mode” apps, isn’t this what GUI apps were made for? The old Java applets and apps using Swing/JavaFX or Qt are the ones that immediately come to mind.
still_grokking 5y ago
Another shell that tries to make use of the idea of structured data is Elvish. https://elv.sh/ https://elv.sh/ As it's aware of data-types you could likely build even the image feature (when combined with an adequate terminal).
BiteCode_dev 5y ago
Jupyter does that.
zmix 5y ago
Something like this: https://domterm.org https://domterm.org ?

zokier 5y ago

DomTerm is maybe the closest thing.

chriswarbo 5y ago

Notebooks like Jupyter sound similar; although they are more persistent, whilst shells are more ephemeral (whether that's a good thing or not!)

mindwok 5y ago

This sounds pretty similar to what Powershell does. You can list the contents of the directory which outputs a structured table, then pipe that into Out-GridView for an interactive GUI window.

Renaud 5y ago
I had never heard of Out-GridView and it's awesome!

rkeene2 5y ago

There previously was such a thing from Mozilla called XMLTerm [0]. You could be the one to revive it ! [0] https://www.xml.com/pub/2000/06/07/xmlterm/index.html https://www.xml.com/pub/2000/06/07/xmlterm/index.html

xyst 5y ago

I can see the benefits of structured output from CLI tools. It’s a bit rare to find but they do exist. I believe the closest I have found in the wild is a terminal instance connecting to some 1980s mainframe tech. There are also some FOSS tools aimed at increasing the readability of CLI tools https://github.com/charmbracelet/lipgloss https://github.com/charmbracelet/lipgloss Doesn’t offer tables (yet) but is about as good as it’s going to get. For “easy mode” apps, isn’t this what GUI apps were made for? The old Java applets and apps using Swing/JavaFX or Qt are the ones that immediately come to mind.

still_grokking 5y ago

Another shell that tries to make use of the idea of structured data is Elvish. https://elv.sh/ https://elv.sh/ As it's aware of data-types you could likely build even the image feature (when combined with an adequate terminal).

BiteCode_dev 5y ago

Jupyter does that.

zmix 5y ago

Something like this: https://domterm.org https://domterm.org ?