3 ms·

Making progressive web apps even better: ambient badging and “pop into browser”

36 points by Navarr 10y ago

Navarr 10y ago
The "pop-into browser" feature is related to the discussion[1] of how Chrome has a bug[2] for displaying the banner for webapps with display: browser. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11770774 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11770774 [2]: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=596729 https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=596729
bryanlarsen 10y ago
This hurts: "I want people to be able to copy URLs. I want people to be able to hack URLs. I’m not ashamed of my URLs …I’m downright proud." I was in the same boat, for a while. We stored all our state in the URL so you could just copy, bookmark, or share the link easily. But then Apple nerfed us: https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/36650 https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/36650 Now our webapp is just like every other webapp, with nothing useful in the URL.
- jbob2000 10y ago
  URLs were never useful - too many odd characters that are hard to vocalize and memorize. Unless you need to point to a media item of some sort (picture, video, article, etc.), they do nothing for the user beyond the domain name.
  - xg15 10y ago
    Except that the ability to "point to a media item of some sort", i.e. linking is one of the fundamental properties of the WWW.
  - sosborn 10y ago
    > they do nothing for the user beyond the domain name I completely disagree. A well-crafted URL can inform users of the publish date, product category, headline, etc. without the need to click the link.
  - Shorel 10y ago
    Bitcoin wallet addresses have never been useful - too many odd characters that are hard to vocalize and memorize. /s
  - simonw 10y ago
    URLs allow users to share the thing they are looking at with someone else.
- jozan 10y ago
  I just tested this on my iOS and this seems to be fixed on the latest iOS (9.3.2).
  - bryanlarsen 10y ago
    We got the error on a couple of different 9.3.2 devices.
rocky1138 10y ago
What is a progressive web app? Do they mean a website?
- simonw 10y ago
  https://developers.google.com/web/progressive-web-apps/ https://developers.google.com/web/progressive-web-apps/ "Progressive web apps" is a relatively new term coined to describe mobile web apps that use modern APIs to behave more like native apps in the ways that matter to people.
- kiwijamo 10y ago
  I'm glad I'm not the only one wondering that! It would have been nice if the linked article explained this concept.
EpicEng 10y ago
>Wouldn’t it be great if there were a button in the URL bar that appeared whenever you landed on a PWA that you could always tap to save it to your homescreen? I write software for a living and I honestly don't really understand what the author is saying after reading the first page. Twice. Given, I'm not a web dev, but man; too much jargon. What is a 'progressive' web app? Have web apps become sentient and developed political leanings? What is a PWA? Why is the term 'user engagement' being used as a pejorative? I don't get it.
- andybak 10y ago
  And I don't get 30% of the articles on HN. I didn't know what a H1B was. Or a 'Series A' round. At one stage I was baffled by the talk of something called 'Bitcoin'. I sometimes rage about a post title that uses an acronym I've never heard of but it's hard to get the balance right between patronising your audience and mystifying them. My hunch is that a fair proportion of HN are web devs or closely enough linked with web development that they could make sense of the majority of that article.

36 points by Navarr 10y ago

The "pop-into browser" feature is related to the discussion[1] of how Chrome has a bug[2] for displaying the banner for webapps with display: browser. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11770774 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11770774 [2]: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=596729 https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=596729

bryanlarsen 10y ago

This hurts: "I want people to be able to copy URLs. I want people to be able to hack URLs. I’m not ashamed of my URLs …I’m downright proud." I was in the same boat, for a while. We stored all our state in the URL so you could just copy, bookmark, or share the link easily. But then Apple nerfed us: https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/36650 https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/36650 Now our webapp is just like every other webapp, with nothing useful in the URL.

jbob2000 10y ago
URLs were never useful - too many odd characters that are hard to vocalize and memorize. Unless you need to point to a media item of some sort (picture, video, article, etc.), they do nothing for the user beyond the domain name.
- xg15 10y ago
  Except that the ability to "point to a media item of some sort", i.e. linking is one of the fundamental properties of the WWW.
- sosborn 10y ago
  > they do nothing for the user beyond the domain name I completely disagree. A well-crafted URL can inform users of the publish date, product category, headline, etc. without the need to click the link.
- Shorel 10y ago
  Bitcoin wallet addresses have never been useful - too many odd characters that are hard to vocalize and memorize. /s
- simonw 10y ago
  URLs allow users to share the thing they are looking at with someone else.
jozan 10y ago
I just tested this on my iOS and this seems to be fixed on the latest iOS (9.3.2).
- bryanlarsen 10y ago
  We got the error on a couple of different 9.3.2 devices.

rocky1138 10y ago

What is a progressive web app? Do they mean a website?

simonw 10y ago
https://developers.google.com/web/progressive-web-apps/ https://developers.google.com/web/progressive-web-apps/ "Progressive web apps" is a relatively new term coined to describe mobile web apps that use modern APIs to behave more like native apps in the ways that matter to people.
kiwijamo 10y ago
I'm glad I'm not the only one wondering that! It would have been nice if the linked article explained this concept.

EpicEng 10y ago

>Wouldn’t it be great if there were a button in the URL bar that appeared whenever you landed on a PWA that you could always tap to save it to your homescreen? I write software for a living and I honestly don't really understand what the author is saying after reading the first page. Twice. Given, I'm not a web dev, but man; too much jargon. What is a 'progressive' web app? Have web apps become sentient and developed political leanings? What is a PWA? Why is the term 'user engagement' being used as a pejorative? I don't get it.

andybak 10y ago
And I don't get 30% of the articles on HN. I didn't know what a H1B was. Or a 'Series A' round. At one stage I was baffled by the talk of something called 'Bitcoin'. I sometimes rage about a post title that uses an acronym I've never heard of but it's hard to get the balance right between patronising your audience and mystifying them. My hunch is that a fair proportion of HN are web devs or closely enough linked with web development that they could make sense of the majority of that article.