Local-First web applications are basically what should have been written as native applications. However, due to the fact that most people’s computer are not computers anymore, but walled gardens controlled by mega corporations, developers have to do this ****.

We can do local first with Phoenix…

There was a talk yesterday about ElectricSql at Code BEAM America

While it is historically accurate to say that the pendulum has been swinging back and forth, and that the reasons for that are mostly well-understood (mostly related to the power of the client and/or the server machines really), I feel that this ignores what is actually a good idea and/or pragmatic to do.

IMO most people in many apps, barring social networks or just very social apps like chats, 99% of the time interact with computers in their own mini universe. They would be completely fine if the app stored their changes in a local SQLite instance that lives in a WASM runtime in the browser, for example. And syncs all changes, say, once every two minutes. And have browser capabilities that clearly state “if this tab is closed, sync this DB to this server endpoint and don’t give up until it’s done”, invisibly from the user – they can close their tab and move on with life.

Many people in smaller organizations (and/or more closed ones but still with a lot of customers) have explored very similar ideas btw, and they found them working crushingly well.

Of course, as you yourself said, it seriously depends on the app – of course. But even something like an e-commerce website where you browse products, add favorites, put stuff in a cart, order, pay etc. can work just fine with mostly local access. I mean, not like most e-stores change their inventory 20 times every day… syncing stuff once every 2 to 120 minutes is going to serve nearly everyone just fine, 99% of the time.

Alas, the tech zeitgeist moved to the path of least resistance, as it always does because, you know, the companies need interns that are paid 10x less than a senior.