May 14, 2022
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This is a dev diary of implementing
Filerion, a web-based file manager for online storage (Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, s3 and more).
Maybe you’ve read a retrospective of building a software product, maybe even a whole book.
At best they’re very rough summaries.
What if you could see the app unfold in front of your eyes, before it succeeds (or fails)?
This is what I’m doing: I’m building an app in public and as I go along, I’m writing an unfiltered documentary of developing it.
A captain’s log, if you will.
A detailed, daily report on what I did.
My goal
- de-mystify the process of building a software product
- show that building software is 1000 small steps. You just need to keep griding day after day and make small steps forward
What is the product?
My belief is that everything that can be a web app will become a web app.
I find it curious that we have a web version of Photoshop-like software but not a decent file manager. At least I don’t know of one.
File managers are a decent business on desktop. Here’s one of the early successes, Norton Commander:
It inspired many products, free and paid.
I’m building: a Norton Commander, re-imagined for the web.
Dual pane file manager that support Dropbox, OneDrive, S3, Google Storage, git and everything that can be represented as a file system.
A tool for power users who need to handle large amounts of files.
Aspirationally, the app will distinguish itself with:
- speed. It’ll handle lots of files, quickly
- features. It’s a tool for power user. I’ll steal every good idea from desktop file manager, web file managers and web apps in general.
Aspirationally I want 1 million users. The need is certainly big enough. It’s a mere matter of execution.
My team
Me, myself and I. It’s a solo dev project.
Today is day 0. The game is afoot.
