discussion: Add support for username-based localIDs

[onkoe]

We are happy to answer your questions about the code or discuss technical ideas.

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Hi there! I have a technical idea about the current URL navigation. This discusses the implementation side of a feature request I'll be posting shortly. :)

When navigating to any Proton service, the URL goes through a few authentication layers. It eventually ends up at the user's selected site, with a local user identifier (localID) at the end. For example, my Proton Mail currently specifies the following on my primary account: https://mail.proton.me/u/45/inbox

In the past, I was able to bookmark these for quick access to my e-mail, but for some reason, the IDs seem more volatile these days. They now use larger numbers instead of 0, 1, 2, and so on. While bookmarking via localID isn't entirely bad, the IDs change per browser/device and order you sign in, so it was never a great solution.

Instead, an easy implementation for a bookmark redirect would be to place the Proton username in the ID's place. For example, https://mail.proton.me/u/onkoe/inbox would be excellent! On the other hand, this would cause collisions with the new proton.me scheme, so a full email address may be appropriate.

In any case, I hope to hear your thoughts on this implementation. Thanks for your hard work on the project! 😄