For a long while, my dev stack seemed to match everybody else’s:
VS Code
Postman
Notion
Figma
A couple of other random desktop tools
But then I began to doubt my choice.
Pretty much everything I did was already being done in a browser, so I decided to give something new a shot: replace everything I could with web apps.
There have been several changes that were quite straightforward:
Postman to Hoppscotch
Notion desktop to Notion browser version
Figma desktop app to Figma web interface
JSON tools to online editors
In most cases, no features had to be sacrificed for the sake of more convenient tools.
The problem didn’t lie in performance or features. It lay in discoverability.
Without regularly adding new applications, it became difficult to locate useful ones. The days of using app stores are long gone, as it would become too complicated to manage by simply bookmarking each application.
Eventually, I began using an online store for applications called Unstore, which helped me navigate through my tool selection process better.
A few things began to become clear after about two weeks:
Setup takes seconds on any machine
No installations, updates, or maintenance required
Everything is available everywhere
It's easier to work and switch between machines without any hassle.
But it is not all perfect:
Offline support can be an issue
A lot of development tasks still require native solutions
Excessive tabbing might occur
I did not fully turn to browser-based apps, but I managed to switch out nearly everything from my toolkit.
The move to using web applications may not have been instantaneous in terms of its effect, but what it did do was alter my perspective entirely. I found myself replacing many parts of my stack without feeling that much attachment to my previous system.
It will be interesting to see if others have made the move too, or are happy with the status quo.
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