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Asked: 2026-06-09T18:21:53+00:00

Edit: Let me try to clarify with a use case. I would love to

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Edit:
Let me try to clarify with a use case. I would love to be able to run a simple chat-box on an html/javascript page without running my -own- server. I can write the chat application’s javascript just fine, but don’t have a solution that allows me to store the data to make the chat messages visible to all browsing users. So my app would accept data, post it to a third-party data store (Ideally just in json format), and poll from the data store for updates periodically. That’s not the only thing I would use such a json storage service/json storage engine for, but it is the clearest example.

I am backing away from server-side programming a little bit as html5 comes to the forefront, and exploring how much I can do with just html and javascript, in terms of functionality that I would previously have to achieve with a html/php/sql server stack. For example, on this nascent html5 site: http://tersh.royronalds.com/ I’m reusing flickr for image hosting and tumblr for blog post hosting. However, just as one example, I now find myself wanting to code a dynamic todo list, something where items can be added and ticked off as completed, and publicly displayed during that time. Another example might be a simple, persistent chat box.

For example, instead of using ajax to push boolean data and text about chat messages and changes to a php script that would then store the data in a mysql database, I’d love to push and pull the data to/from a third-party store that provides somewhat the same type of functionality as the localstorage API, but for json.

So I’d like to solve that using some method of storage with a public js API, e.g. some method for storing json, or any end format that supports strings and numbers really, and is store-able and retrievable, similar to localStorage, except persistent and shareable.

What public technologies/solutions are there for such a thing?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    There are few options for this, even if they are not very nice, or well developed.

    First off, the one most closely related to a server-side database is a Web SQL Database. This is not a recommended feature by the W3C (it does not use SQLite as a backend), however, it is currently supported in Chrome, Opera, Safari, and Firefox (with an add-on).

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    Second, we have Indexed Database API’s. These are only supported by Chrome and Firefox. (And IE 10, but who cares?) It is more different from a normal database, but is a recommended method by the W3C.

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    Third, we have local storage. This is not a database-like system, it is more similar to cookies. However, these local storage items are better than cookies because they are each a key-value pair (and very intuitive to use, i might add). For example:

    // Store value on the browser permanently
localStorage.setItem('key', 'value');
// Retrieve value
localStorage.getItem('key');
//Remove value
localStorage.removeItem('key');
//This is just a small selection of actions you can perform

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    Helpful Resource

    Fourth, you should maybe take a quick peek at offline HTML. This is a system where select files in your site are downloaded by the browser, and can be used offline. I don’t think this is useful for you, but check it out.

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    Helpful Guide

    As you might be able to tell, I’ve had more experience in the last two than the first. I hope I was helpful anyway.

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