As a learning exercise I'd like to build a simple PHP text editor as a Firefox desktop web app. As far as I can see the sticky point is local file access, e.g. obviously saving files to IndexedDB isn't appropriate (unless there's then a means to write out "real" files?).
I'd decided that XulRunner was the best compromise, knowing that I'm not really building a web app by using that, but hardly less so than if I was using NW.js. Using XulRunner allows me access to privileged JS modules like OSFile.jsm that I don't think I can use even as a packaged web app. (Also js-ctypes, which might be handy for calling into something quicker than JS e.g. to parse PHP code for auto-completion functionality.)
I've just read that Mozilla are considering migrating away from XUL and XBL (yes, I know this will take ages), so really I imagine XulRunner's days are numbered.
I'd like to stick with Mozilla technology, so what's the most appropriate platform for me to use? Is this just not (yet) possible using Moz tech? Have I missed a way to do this as a pure desktop web app using Firefox?
