Principles.
The rules every Sintopia app is held to. They are short because they are meant to be kept.
- One situation per app.
Each app answers one question well. When a feature would turn an app into something else, it becomes a different app or it does not get built.
- The device is the default home of your data.
Where an app can work without a server, it does. Timelines and Workouts keep everything in the browser; the server, when used, holds only what you chose to copy there.
- Anonymity is a mechanism with a stated boundary.
Where an app hides names, the hiding is enforced by the server and the boundary is written on the app's site: collAnon until the deadline, Perspective Exchange until everyone has written and only for people who join by link.
- Export is a first-class feature.
Every app exports its data as a JSON file. Leaving is as easy as arriving.
- Limits are published, not discovered.
The free allowance of each app is on its site. When a limit is reached, the app says so, with the number.
- No dark patterns.
No countdown timers, no fake scarcity, no nagging modals, no confirmation shaming. Buttons say what they do and cancel means cancel.
- Unfinished means labelled.
Features that are still being built are shown as such, in the app and on its site. A roadmap is not a promise and is never sold as one.
See the principles applied.
Each app site has a page on who sees what and where the data lives.