26 ms·

Things you can do with a browser in 2020

698 points by therealmarv 7y ago

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
simonw 7y ago
Suggestion: add a rough indicator of what platforms support each feature. You could link to the relevant page on https://caniuse.com/ https://caniuse.com/ but even a very quick "Supported: Mobile Safari, Chrome on Desktop" sentence next to each one would be enormously useful.
- _bxg1 7y ago
  Each link already goes to MDN, which has its own rough chart of browser support
  - nixpulvis 7y ago
    I clicked the Web Credentials link, and was disappointed to be redirected to google's docs :P https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Credential_Management_API https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Credential_...
    - _bxg1 7y ago
      Ah. Well at least some of them go to MDN...
raygull 7y ago
I had no idea the Web Coffee API was so mature.
- drivingmenuts 7y ago
  Why is this even an API? Seems like a joke API rather than something actually useful.
  - anchpop 7y ago
    Go click the link in the github repo, it's actually very cool
  - xrd 7y ago
    Seems like this snowballed: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Status/418 https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Status/418 "418 I'm a teapot"
- dalore 7y ago
  Never going to covfefe you up
- ASalazarMX 7y ago
  > Use covfefe protocol to start coffee machines. I should have known, but I wasn't paying attention.
- worble 7y ago
  I'm slightly disappointed that clicking on it didn't just return a HTTP 418 error, but was nontheless satisfied with the result.
- russellbeattie 7y ago
  I thought I knew of all the APIs, but that one surprised me. Hadn't realized how well done it was...
- pjmorris 7y ago
  Subtle.
_bxg1 7y ago
Worth noting is that "prefers-color-scheme" works in all major OSes at this point, mobile and desktop. If your site already has a dark theme, there is no reason at all not to be integrating it this way. Even if you don't have a dark theme already, it's a huge value-add..... (@dang?)
- gwern 7y ago
  Yes, it's such an obscure feature that many of the people who enable it don't even realize it... Ever since I added dark mode to gwern.net, I've been getting or seeing complaints about how my website is broken or 'defaults to black-on-white' (it doesn't). :(
  - _bxg1 7y ago
    Huh... It's weird to me that someone who has that enabled on their OS (even if they didn't realize it) would be upset about it on a website.
  - 2038AD 7y ago
    That's silly of them. The only problem I've noticed is that images are inverted when they shouldn't be (e.g. on hover or the enlarged view).
  - saagarjha 7y ago
    I enjoy the prefers-color-scheme support!
  - chrfrasco 7y ago
    Looks like we need prefers-prefers-color-scheme
    - gwern 7y ago
      But then what happens when they forget opting into the opting in?!
      - 7y ago
beagle3 7y ago
... and Safari still holding out on web push - this lack is a reason many native apps get written.
- dijit 7y ago
  I’m not sure why I read this in a negative tone, this is fantastic.
  - swiley 7y ago
    It’s why there are no self hostable chat apps. A better option would be for users to be able to select alternate push servers.
  - thosakwe 7y ago
    What's fantastic about a vendor intentionally ignoring multiple standards, in favor of their own walled-garden? You might be ignoring the wishes of actual users when you say it's "fantastic."
    - dijit 7y ago
      I'm only speaking as a user. As a user I don't want push notifications from websites. I know there are some exceptions (like messengers), but really, those should be apps because Apples centralised push messaging system is better for my battery life.
      - nine_k 7y ago
        If you don't need that, you can cmd-comma and disable that. But there's no such an easy way to enable a feature you need, but which wasn't implemented.
        dijit 7y ago
        I do not want an opt out, I do not want it. I _do_ _not_ want it. I do not want it to be expected. I do not want it to be assumed. I do not want to have to configure anything. _I DO NOT WANT IT_
uk_programmer 7y ago
This is a great list some of these APIs look pretty interesting and didn't know about them this is a great list. Push notifications are becoming an irritation mainly because of their overuse. The number of sites where you go to them to have a look at one piece of information and you have to tell them no to push notifications is becoming quite an annoyance.
- ocdtrekkie 7y ago
  This was an example of where web developers really should've known better in advance. They literally coded an intentional new way for people to make popup ads, and it's the primary use of the web notifications API. I regularly hear of complaints about spammy popups on people's computers, even when they don't "have the web browser open". And it turns out it's just stock Google Chrome, doing exactly what Google Chrome was designed to do: Pop up ads, that everyone has since started shipping ads through.
  - uk_programmer 7y ago
    I believe Brave has them disabled by default or an option for it. It is a shame a good feature has been abused, but yes you are right it is to be expected.
- duxup 7y ago
  There's a lot of those APIs that are awesome for corporate web apps ... but brutal on the web.
init0 7y ago
https://whatwebcando.today https://whatwebcando.today
fenwick67 7y ago
Who seriously thought the Battery Status API was a good idea? Someone thought this was useful enough to write a spec for it...
- iameli 7y ago
  Fullscreen games providing a battery indicator is always nice.
  - fenwick67 7y ago
    Seems legit, although that should probably be the OSes job to overlay that
    - deadmutex 7y ago
      That has its own set of challenges -- now you have to design your game so that the battery indicator doesn't cover up an important part of the game. Also, what if the OS allows it to be configurable location/size, etc.
      - fenwick67 7y ago
        I was imagining a pop-up saying "your battery is getting low"
      - CraneWorm 7y ago
        > now you have to design your game so that the battery indicator doesn't cover up an important part of the game You should not be able to do that; It's a feature that you cannot do that.
        deadmutex 7y ago
        ? You should not be able to re-layout your visual elements in the game if the battery indicator hides it?
        zzo38computer 7y ago
soheil 7y ago
Web Coffee API link tells you everything you need to know.
- jan6 7y ago
  no, it doesn't tell me why there isn't a Web Team API ;p
  - jan6 7y ago
    *Tea, not Team
rkagerer 7y ago
As a user, so many of these I wish did NOT exist. E.g: Push Notifications, Banners, Web Share, Contacts, Page Visibility, Badging. Uncertain about USB, Bluetooth, Locks, Keyboard Lock, and Native File System. I don't want my browser doing those things.
- swiley 7y ago
  At least with the push notifications I can get notified about my stuff. On the iPhone they require paying apple $100 a year which almost ensures most will be ads.
  - ehsankia 7y ago
    Could you use an existing solution such as pushover [0]? [0] https://pushover.net/ https://pushover.net/
  - Nextgrid 7y ago
    Do you mean the proprietary Apple push notifications in Safari? In this case I've only seen it ever once (as opposed to seeing the "normal" notifications on pretty much every shitty blogspam website) so it seems like the 100$ acts like a good filter against BS notifications.
    - swiley 7y ago
      I mean whatever Firefox does. I’ve never once gotten spam because sites can’t send you notifications unless you opt into them (so it’s more like a battery friendly super fast RSS replacement.)
- ipsum2 7y ago
  Consider that different users have different needs, and almost all features listed are opt-in.
  - rolltiide 7y ago
    except you have to opt out of them all before you can consume that 1 website's content hm I wonder if there is a chrome extension for that
jonshariat 7y ago
This is an excellent resource to have when problem solving or brainstorming solutions. Anyone know if something like this exists for Android and iOS?
Wingy 7y ago
Of course this one goes where you'd expect... https://github.com/luruke/browser-2020#web-coffee-api https://github.com/luruke/browser-2020#web-coffee-api
jan6 7y ago
I'm rather sad that for example Battery API is deprecated... possibly might need a browser-wide toggle, but still... It can both be cool, and useful....mostly cool, though... you could have a complete web desktop (there several web desktops, and even more "fake" ones, like windows93) that shows the status, or a webpage that switches to dark mode with minimal javascript and theming, when battery is low, or a low distraction writing environment for example, that still notifies you of low battery, etc... more and more people are using battery-powered devices ;)
- robotnikman 7y ago
  IIRC I think it was because it was used to fingerprint browsers
- saagarjha 7y ago
  > a webpage that switches to dark mode with minimal javascript and theming, when battery is low Please don't arbitrarily change the theme of the website I'm using based on my battery level. > a low distraction writing environment for example, that still notifies you of low battery My system does this.
  - TheCoelacanth 7y ago
    > Please don't arbitrarily change the theme of the website I'm using based on my battery level. Yeah, just base your theme off of the dark mode setting. Then if the _system_ changes to dark mode when battery is low, your app can follow suite.
z5h 7y ago
Surprised to find out covfefe is an actual protocol.
- ehsankia 7y ago
  The documentation goes in much more detail.
vortico 7y ago
This list doesn't include the Screen Capture API. https://www.w3.org/TR/screen-capture/ https://www.w3.org/TR/screen-capture/ https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Screen_Capture_API/Using_Screen_Capture https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Screen_Capt... https://www.webrtc-experiment.com/getDisplayMedia/ https://www.webrtc-experiment.com/getDisplayMedia/
GrazeMor 7y ago
The credential management api is super annoying. Many websites now have a very annoying sign in with google dialog whenever I visit them and there's no way I can find to disable it.
- josh3736 7y ago
  The Credential Management API is more like a API in to the browser's password manager. A page can save a username/password/token into secure storage (which the browser can sync to your other devices) and later retrieve it. This is nice because we don't have to rely on autofilling form field heuristics. You're thinking of Google's One Tap, which is just a JS snippet that publishers include on their page, and has nothing to do with browser APIs. (The OP shows a screenshot of One Tap, which is confusing.) These uBlock filters will make those sign up with Google popups go away entirely: ||accounts.google.com/gsi/iframe/select?*ux_mode=popup$all ||smartlock.google.com
angelbroz 7y ago
Picture-in-Picture works great for Facebook videos, FB stops playing videos when the window is not focused, so this feature it's amazing :D
- anoncake 7y ago
  It's a hack that shouldn't even be necessary. It's none of FB's business whether its window is focussed.
  - Elv13 7y ago
    In AwesomeWM (a linux window manager), we have APIs to lie to windows. Telling youtube it is in fullscreen mode when it isn't is very useful. A lot of websites have much better fullscreen / mobile modes. (disclaimer, I am one of the dev)
fortran77 7y ago
I think WebUSB is all but dead. See: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22228879 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22228879
- schappim 7y ago
  It is very much not dead and is used for educational products all the time. We use it ourselves for our internal ecommerce backend system. We made our own WebUSB Postage Scales and Label Printer that enables 1-click creation of consignment labels. We pull weights from the postage scales and chuck raw ZPL over the wire to the Label Printer. Being able to skip the bugs in operating system printing queues is amazing. Demo: https://vimeo.com/334547755/c387957a25 https://vimeo.com/334547755/c387957a25
  - kinlan 7y ago
    It's also used to flash Android devices too.
- tech234a 7y ago
  I haven’t tried it, but WebUSB has been used for loading custom operating systems while hacking Nintendo Switches: https://webcfw.sdsetup.com/ https://webcfw.sdsetup.com/
geofft 7y ago
A few things that aren't mentioned: - Web MIDI - access digital keyboards/synthesizers. I believe in some browsers there's no prompt, unlike Web USB. - Screen sharing via getDisplayMedia, analogous to getUserMedia for cameras. - WebRTC, peer-to-peer connections. - Security keys (WebAuthn), specific support for cheap ($10-$50 depending on features) devices that do second-factor login to websites. Importantly, these devices communicate with the browser about which site you're logging into, making for phishing-proof logins.
- choward 7y ago
  Is WebRTC really peer-to-peer if you need a server?
  - k__ 7y ago
    The server is for convenience. If you can handle signaling in another way, you're free to do so. When I played around with WebRTC the first time, I did it by copying the signaling data via TextAreas and WhatsApp.
  - root_axis 7y ago
    As another commenter points out you can signal however you like, but even if a signaling server was required, it'd still be peer to peer since peer to peer accurately describes how the packets are routed over the network.
  - kodablah 7y ago
    A while back I wrote a screen sharer that uses WebRTC and Gun.js for signaling [0]. Nowadays you could use IPFS's JS lib to do this (or webtorrent even). Now if both people are behind a restrictive NAT or something, you do need a TURN server. 0 - https://myscreen.live https://myscreen.live
  - Spivak 7y ago
    I wish the FUD about UPnP would finally calm down so we can finally have at least some P2P connections without the need for a rendezvous sever.
- 7y ago
karatekidd32v 7y ago
Wow "Web Coffee API" - something I didn't know I needed
gman83 7y ago
If you'd have told me in 2010 that this would be the state of the art of the web in 2020, I'd have been sorely disappointed...
- holtalanm 7y ago
  personal opinion -- almost all of these features are really cool to me as a user and a developer. just shows, everyone's got an opinion.
- sumedh 7y ago
  Why, what were you expecting?
oliv__ 7y ago
Why should a browser be allowed to check for device battery life? That seems wayyy off limits
- k__ 7y ago
  They can reduce something that is good but not when your battery is low.
- jtvjan 7y ago
  It has been deprecated because of privacy concerns, so it will probably be removed from browsers soon.
marczellm 7y ago
More like a "things Chrome can do in 2020".
- snazz 7y ago
  Nearly all of these are supported by Firefox as well. Apple is slower at implementing Safari features, but most of the important ones work (prefers-color-scheme, for example).
Nextgrid 7y ago
I am concerned that the "dark mode" and "reduce motion" detection features can be used for browser & OS fingerprinting. Does anyone know if any countermeasures are in place against that?
- saagarjha 7y ago
  I think prefers-color-scheme was actually held up for a while due to fingerprinting concerns.
starpilot 7y ago
Can I create water, that I can feel?
ForHackernews 7y ago
See also, from yesterday: "The reckless, infinite scope of web browsers" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22615894 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22615894
kinlan 7y ago
Hahahaha. There's an amazing flattering IR photo of me in there :)
nneonneo 7y ago
The Web Coffee API (https://github.com/luruke/browser-2020#web-coffee-api https://github.com/luruke/browser-2020#web-coffee-api) is my favorite of the bunch. I definitely recommend checking out the linked WHATWG documentation, as well as the relevant RFC for the HTTP protocol: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2324 https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2324 What can’t a browser do these days?
- findyourexit 7y ago
  The Web Coffee API caught my attention, and was the first link I clicked through... Needless to say, I was not disappointed!
- mr_toad 7y ago
  > What can’t a browser do these days? Detect that you’re paying for bandwidth and not autoplay video.
dzonga 7y ago
browsers are truly a universal too and a great equalizer. not only do they enable open platforms, away from the walled gardens. they also provide a way to share software for 94% majority. But alas, people these days are fighting against browsers. heck a good portion of web developers out there don't know semantic html or what good it can do. they were raised in the SPA era. view source is now foreign to most people. or that html pages are automatically cached for offline is foreign to most people too. what a sad state of affairs.
kovac 7y ago
Looking at these, I feel that browsers do way too many things than they should.
- zzo38computer 7y ago
  Yes, I and others commented on other threads about such thing.
time0ut 7y ago
Sigh. I fell for the Web Coffee API link. I saw mention of a covfefe protocol and was excited to read about it.
- rarecoil 7y ago
  I did the same. I was hoping for an HTCPCP-like W3C specification that I had somehow missed.
nexuist 7y ago
I really, really, really wish iOS allowed push notifications through Safari. So many PWA ideas I want to explore are instantly stifled by that omission.
- paulcarroty 7y ago
  Is there no alternative way?
  - nexuist 7y ago
    You can ask your users to download a third party app like PushBullet, but that's very lame and unprofessional.
dredmorbius 7y ago
This article needs a complement: Things you can't do with a browser in 2020.
benkitzelman 7y ago
...love a bit of rick astley with my morning Covfefe....
arthurcolle 7y ago
Payments API is lit. Didn't realize I could do it from the browser!
antibland 7y ago
For anyone wondering how well supported these features are globally (from caniuse): prefers-color-scheme: 80.85% prefers-reduced-motion: 84.05% Payment Request API: 90.06% Web Share API: 49.25% Push API: 78.57% Service Workers: 94.42% Web/native app install banners: 68.19% Get Installed Related Apps API: Not launched, 0% WebXR: 61.83% Picture-in-Picture: 85.01% Media Session API: 66.31% Chrome Sender API: 64.75% AirPlay: Unknown Force Touch API: 55.74% AR Quick Look: Unknown GamePad API: 95.18% WebUSB API: 65.27% Web Bluetooth API: 68.6% Web Locks API: 67.43% Keyboard Lock: 30.47% Generic Sensor API: 67.43% Credential Management API: 70.86% Clipboard API: 70.86% Presentation API: 15.24% full support, 80.14% partial Screen Orientation API: 76.16% getUserMedia camera selection: 93.48% Pointer Lock (Mouse Lock): 55.06% Theme Color: 37.39% Vibration API: 77.13% Web Coffee API: Unknown Battery Status API: 72.36% Page Visibility API: 97.44% Web Speech API: 92.88%
- ficklepickle 7y ago
  The web coffee API is a troll FYI. There is no covfefe protocol.
neillyons 7y ago
I fell for the coffee API It was half believable because of the teapot statue code.
shp0ngle 7y ago
> Browsers can register push notifications Oh yes I didn't notice EVERY PAGE on the planet asking me for that. (After asking me for e-mail newsletter signup and cookie consent.)
- jooize 7y ago
  Problem with Push Notifications is not the feature, but its implementation. Browsers decided to throw a popup instead of displaying an indicator of availability when a page supports Push Notifications. Possibly for discoverability. I disable the feature because there is no way to avoid the interruption and still easily accept for say a Discourse forum that I do want notifications from. Blaming all web pages for their implementations is pointless. Give up the fight and redesign the browser. Don’t remove the feature because you believed web designers would hold back on informing the browser of its web page’s capability until the user interacts with some element every web designer would create, differently.
- Cthulhu_ 7y ago
  I think this is because there's no rules on the internet (besides GDPR which is implemented with varying properness). Compare with iOS where developers are given clear rules and / or instructions, e.g. how they have to ease the user into notifications instead of just yeet a permissions dialog in their face. I think a lot of websites have just poorly / sloppily implemented the push notifications. I mean if they were to end an article with a call-to-action to subscribe to notifications and/or the newsletter, it'd be a much more pleasant experience. As it stands, I've disabled push notifications entirely (https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/3220216?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/3220216?co=GENIE.Pl...) and I've got a bookmarklet that will try and delete all sticky elements (including persistent headers, popups, greyed-out popup backgrounds, cookie banners, etc). One day I might turn that into an addon that automatically does it after a few seconds of loading a webpage, idk. One day browsers may implement pop-up blockers again as well but this time for the inline ones. I believe Google had an addon where you could report these things.
- equalsione 7y ago
  Firfox recently changed this so that you have it can only be invoked from within a button click or equivalent event[0] - I _think_ Chrome is following suit. 0 - https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Push_API https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Push_API
buboard 7y ago
things you could do, if the browser supported them
pjmlp 7y ago
I guess we can apply Greenspun's rule to modern browsers: "Any sufficiently complicated browser contains an ad-hoc, informally-specified, bug-ridden, slow implementation of half of operating system."
fuzzfactor 7y ago
Mount and Unmount a VHD File in Windows Explorer via a Right-Click https://www.howtogeek.com/51174/mount-and-unmount-a-vhd-file-in-windows-explorer-via-a-right-click/ https://www.howtogeek.com/51174/mount-and-unmount-a-vhd-file...
jessaustin 7y ago
I like the Intersection Observer: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Intersection_Observer_API https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Intersectio...
cdbattags 7y ago
So, uh, https://github.com/luruke/browser-2020#web-coffee-api https://github.com/luruke/browser-2020#web-coffee-api
TheBobinator 7y ago
What seperates psychological warfare from marketing? If you pay attention to advertising for a week, you will be marginally educated on what the advertiser wants you to know about their products and services; this has some economic utility as you cannot buy what you don't know exists. If you pay attention to psychological warfare for a week, first off you at bare minimum will not be happy or content as you are not buying if you are content or happy; they must torture you through mechanisms of persuation and manipulation in order to manufacture a desire. Once that is done, then they try to train you to have desirable habits to them; as a famous example McDonalds happy meals for kids creating obese adult customers 30 years later. If the food didn't have a serious downside (didn't literally injure you and make you depressed) you wouldn't come back to the restaraunt later for your momentary allevation of that depression\for a fix. Now, Go try to find reliable information on Coronavirus. Which one of those is going on 99% of the time? The sales funnel is really training you to be the product for them. The web is funded by marketers who engage in pyschological warfare for profit, no feature they will ever impliment is designed to make you happy, and technologists have tremendous profit motive to make up all sorts of excuses as to why this behaivour is acceptable when clearly it is destructive to both themselves and the web. Browsers today are trying to become an operarting system so they have absolute conrtrol over the user experience and as they do that they are on a slow march towards building an unbelievably bloated application who's philosophy is to confuse, distract, and screw you at every turn all while managing your perception. Case in point, it would take hours for me to research how to turn off all of those features as I don't need them and there's no mechanism in Firefox or Chrome to backup settings which those browsers reset randomly and intentionally. So call these things what they are; at best, bloat, at worst, a stock pump and dump scheme combined with a tremendous waste of time.
morninglight 7y ago
Some people want a laptop that can make waffles, wash and iron clothes, vacuum the carpet, paint walls, repair blacktop and work as a vibrator. My needs are simple. I want a small, rock-solid, terminal that is dedicated to HIGHLY secure and federally guaranteed transactions on a publicly funded military grade network for: Banking, Bill Payment, Tax payments, Voting. I do not want it to take photos, listen to me, show advertisments, play games, stream media, maps, start coffee machines, do email and chat, play audio/video files, draw graphics or change themes. And any "browser" that can do these additional functions should be banned from connecting to the high security network under penalty of death. Very simple.
wubin 7y ago
Additionally, here is a list of what browsers will be able to do: https://goo.gle/fugu-api-tracker https://goo.gle/fugu-api-tracker

698 points by therealmarv 7y ago

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

Suggestion: add a rough indicator of what platforms support each feature. You could link to the relevant page on https://caniuse.com/ https://caniuse.com/ but even a very quick "Supported: Mobile Safari, Chrome on Desktop" sentence next to each one would be enormously useful.

_bxg1 7y ago
Each link already goes to MDN, which has its own rough chart of browser support
- nixpulvis 7y ago
  I clicked the Web Credentials link, and was disappointed to be redirected to google's docs :P https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Credential_Management_API https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Credential_...
  - _bxg1 7y ago
    Ah. Well at least some of them go to MDN...

raygull 7y ago

I had no idea the Web Coffee API was so mature.

drivingmenuts 7y ago
Why is this even an API? Seems like a joke API rather than something actually useful.
- anchpop 7y ago
  Go click the link in the github repo, it's actually very cool
- xrd 7y ago
  Seems like this snowballed: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Status/418 https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Status/418 "418 I'm a teapot"
dalore 7y ago
Never going to covfefe you up
ASalazarMX 7y ago
> Use covfefe protocol to start coffee machines. I should have known, but I wasn't paying attention.
worble 7y ago
I'm slightly disappointed that clicking on it didn't just return a HTTP 418 error, but was nontheless satisfied with the result.
russellbeattie 7y ago
I thought I knew of all the APIs, but that one surprised me. Hadn't realized how well done it was...
pjmorris 7y ago
Subtle.

_bxg1 7y ago

Worth noting is that "prefers-color-scheme" works in all major OSes at this point, mobile and desktop. If your site already has a dark theme, there is no reason at all not to be integrating it this way. Even if you don't have a dark theme already, it's a huge value-add..... (@dang?)

gwern 7y ago
Yes, it's such an obscure feature that many of the people who enable it don't even realize it... Ever since I added dark mode to gwern.net, I've been getting or seeing complaints about how my website is broken or 'defaults to black-on-white' (it doesn't). :(
- _bxg1 7y ago
  Huh... It's weird to me that someone who has that enabled on their OS (even if they didn't realize it) would be upset about it on a website.
- 2038AD 7y ago
  That's silly of them. The only problem I've noticed is that images are inverted when they shouldn't be (e.g. on hover or the enlarged view).
- saagarjha 7y ago
  I enjoy the prefers-color-scheme support!
- chrfrasco 7y ago
  Looks like we need prefers-prefers-color-scheme
  - gwern 7y ago
    But then what happens when they forget opting into the opting in?!
    - 7y ago

beagle3 7y ago

... and Safari still holding out on web push - this lack is a reason many native apps get written.

dijit 7y ago
I’m not sure why I read this in a negative tone, this is fantastic.
- swiley 7y ago
  It’s why there are no self hostable chat apps. A better option would be for users to be able to select alternate push servers.
- thosakwe 7y ago
  What's fantastic about a vendor intentionally ignoring multiple standards, in favor of their own walled-garden? You might be ignoring the wishes of actual users when you say it's "fantastic."
  - dijit 7y ago
    I'm only speaking as a user. As a user I don't want push notifications from websites. I know there are some exceptions (like messengers), but really, those should be apps because Apples centralised push messaging system is better for my battery life.
    - nine_k 7y ago
      If you don't need that, you can cmd-comma and disable that. But there's no such an easy way to enable a feature you need, but which wasn't implemented.
      - dijit 7y ago
        I do not want an opt out, I do not want it. I _do_ _not_ want it. I do not want it to be expected. I do not want it to be assumed. I do not want to have to configure anything. _I DO NOT WANT IT_

uk_programmer 7y ago

This is a great list some of these APIs look pretty interesting and didn't know about them this is a great list. Push notifications are becoming an irritation mainly because of their overuse. The number of sites where you go to them to have a look at one piece of information and you have to tell them no to push notifications is becoming quite an annoyance.

ocdtrekkie 7y ago
This was an example of where web developers really should've known better in advance. They literally coded an intentional new way for people to make popup ads, and it's the primary use of the web notifications API. I regularly hear of complaints about spammy popups on people's computers, even when they don't "have the web browser open". And it turns out it's just stock Google Chrome, doing exactly what Google Chrome was designed to do: Pop up ads, that everyone has since started shipping ads through.
- uk_programmer 7y ago
  I believe Brave has them disabled by default or an option for it. It is a shame a good feature has been abused, but yes you are right it is to be expected.
duxup 7y ago
There's a lot of those APIs that are awesome for corporate web apps ... but brutal on the web.

init0 7y ago

https://whatwebcando.today https://whatwebcando.today

fenwick67 7y ago

Who seriously thought the Battery Status API was a good idea? Someone thought this was useful enough to write a spec for it...

iameli 7y ago
Fullscreen games providing a battery indicator is always nice.
- fenwick67 7y ago
  Seems legit, although that should probably be the OSes job to overlay that
  - deadmutex 7y ago
    That has its own set of challenges -- now you have to design your game so that the battery indicator doesn't cover up an important part of the game. Also, what if the OS allows it to be configurable location/size, etc.
    - fenwick67 7y ago
      I was imagining a pop-up saying "your battery is getting low"
    - CraneWorm 7y ago
      > now you have to design your game so that the battery indicator doesn't cover up an important part of the game You should not be able to do that; It's a feature that you cannot do that.
      - deadmutex 7y ago
        ? You should not be able to re-layout your visual elements in the game if the battery indicator hides it?
      - zzo38computer 7y ago

soheil 7y ago

Web Coffee API link tells you everything you need to know.

jan6 7y ago
no, it doesn't tell me why there isn't a Web Team API ;p
- jan6 7y ago
  *Tea, not Team

rkagerer 7y ago

As a user, so many of these I wish did NOT exist. E.g: Push Notifications, Banners, Web Share, Contacts, Page Visibility, Badging. Uncertain about USB, Bluetooth, Locks, Keyboard Lock, and Native File System. I don't want my browser doing those things.

swiley 7y ago
At least with the push notifications I can get notified about my stuff. On the iPhone they require paying apple $100 a year which almost ensures most will be ads.
- ehsankia 7y ago
  Could you use an existing solution such as pushover [0]? [0] https://pushover.net/ https://pushover.net/
- Nextgrid 7y ago
  Do you mean the proprietary Apple push notifications in Safari? In this case I've only seen it ever once (as opposed to seeing the "normal" notifications on pretty much every shitty blogspam website) so it seems like the 100$ acts like a good filter against BS notifications.
  - swiley 7y ago
    I mean whatever Firefox does. I’ve never once gotten spam because sites can’t send you notifications unless you opt into them (so it’s more like a battery friendly super fast RSS replacement.)
ipsum2 7y ago
Consider that different users have different needs, and almost all features listed are opt-in.
- rolltiide 7y ago
  except you have to opt out of them all before you can consume that 1 website's content hm I wonder if there is a chrome extension for that

jonshariat 7y ago

This is an excellent resource to have when problem solving or brainstorming solutions. Anyone know if something like this exists for Android and iOS?

Wingy 7y ago

Of course this one goes where you'd expect... https://github.com/luruke/browser-2020#web-coffee-api https://github.com/luruke/browser-2020#web-coffee-api

jan6 7y ago

I'm rather sad that for example Battery API is deprecated... possibly might need a browser-wide toggle, but still... It can both be cool, and useful....mostly cool, though... you could have a complete web desktop (there several web desktops, and even more "fake" ones, like windows93) that shows the status, or a webpage that switches to dark mode with minimal javascript and theming, when battery is low, or a low distraction writing environment for example, that still notifies you of low battery, etc... more and more people are using battery-powered devices ;)

robotnikman 7y ago
IIRC I think it was because it was used to fingerprint browsers
saagarjha 7y ago
> a webpage that switches to dark mode with minimal javascript and theming, when battery is low Please don't arbitrarily change the theme of the website I'm using based on my battery level. > a low distraction writing environment for example, that still notifies you of low battery My system does this.
- TheCoelacanth 7y ago
  > Please don't arbitrarily change the theme of the website I'm using based on my battery level. Yeah, just base your theme off of the dark mode setting. Then if the _system_ changes to dark mode when battery is low, your app can follow suite.

z5h 7y ago

Surprised to find out covfefe is an actual protocol.

ehsankia 7y ago
The documentation goes in much more detail.

vortico 7y ago

This list doesn't include the Screen Capture API. https://www.w3.org/TR/screen-capture/ https://www.w3.org/TR/screen-capture/ https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Screen_Capture_API/Using_Screen_Capture https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Screen_Capt... https://www.webrtc-experiment.com/getDisplayMedia/ https://www.webrtc-experiment.com/getDisplayMedia/

GrazeMor 7y ago

The credential management api is super annoying. Many websites now have a very annoying sign in with google dialog whenever I visit them and there's no way I can find to disable it.

josh3736 7y ago
The Credential Management API is more like a API in to the browser's password manager. A page can save a username/password/token into secure storage (which the browser can sync to your other devices) and later retrieve it. This is nice because we don't have to rely on autofilling form field heuristics. You're thinking of Google's One Tap, which is just a JS snippet that publishers include on their page, and has nothing to do with browser APIs. (The OP shows a screenshot of One Tap, which is confusing.) These uBlock filters will make those sign up with Google popups go away entirely: ||accounts.google.com/gsi/iframe/select?*ux_mode=popup$all ||smartlock.google.com

angelbroz 7y ago

Picture-in-Picture works great for Facebook videos, FB stops playing videos when the window is not focused, so this feature it's amazing :D

anoncake 7y ago
It's a hack that shouldn't even be necessary. It's none of FB's business whether its window is focussed.
- Elv13 7y ago
  In AwesomeWM (a linux window manager), we have APIs to lie to windows. Telling youtube it is in fullscreen mode when it isn't is very useful. A lot of websites have much better fullscreen / mobile modes. (disclaimer, I am one of the dev)

fortran77 7y ago

I think WebUSB is all but dead. See: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22228879 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22228879

schappim 7y ago
It is very much not dead and is used for educational products all the time. We use it ourselves for our internal ecommerce backend system. We made our own WebUSB Postage Scales and Label Printer that enables 1-click creation of consignment labels. We pull weights from the postage scales and chuck raw ZPL over the wire to the Label Printer. Being able to skip the bugs in operating system printing queues is amazing. Demo: https://vimeo.com/334547755/c387957a25 https://vimeo.com/334547755/c387957a25
- kinlan 7y ago
  It's also used to flash Android devices too.
tech234a 7y ago
I haven’t tried it, but WebUSB has been used for loading custom operating systems while hacking Nintendo Switches: https://webcfw.sdsetup.com/ https://webcfw.sdsetup.com/

geofft 7y ago

A few things that aren't mentioned: - Web MIDI - access digital keyboards/synthesizers. I believe in some browsers there's no prompt, unlike Web USB. - Screen sharing via getDisplayMedia, analogous to getUserMedia for cameras. - WebRTC, peer-to-peer connections. - Security keys (WebAuthn), specific support for cheap ($10-$50 depending on features) devices that do second-factor login to websites. Importantly, these devices communicate with the browser about which site you're logging into, making for phishing-proof logins.

choward 7y ago
Is WebRTC really peer-to-peer if you need a server?
- k__ 7y ago
  The server is for convenience. If you can handle signaling in another way, you're free to do so. When I played around with WebRTC the first time, I did it by copying the signaling data via TextAreas and WhatsApp.
- root_axis 7y ago
  As another commenter points out you can signal however you like, but even if a signaling server was required, it'd still be peer to peer since peer to peer accurately describes how the packets are routed over the network.
- kodablah 7y ago
  A while back I wrote a screen sharer that uses WebRTC and Gun.js for signaling [0]. Nowadays you could use IPFS's JS lib to do this (or webtorrent even). Now if both people are behind a restrictive NAT or something, you do need a TURN server. 0 - https://myscreen.live https://myscreen.live
- Spivak 7y ago
  I wish the FUD about UPnP would finally calm down so we can finally have at least some P2P connections without the need for a rendezvous sever.
7y ago

karatekidd32v 7y ago

Wow "Web Coffee API" - something I didn't know I needed

gman83 7y ago

If you'd have told me in 2010 that this would be the state of the art of the web in 2020, I'd have been sorely disappointed...

holtalanm 7y ago
personal opinion -- almost all of these features are really cool to me as a user and a developer. just shows, everyone's got an opinion.
sumedh 7y ago
Why, what were you expecting?

oliv__ 7y ago

Why should a browser be allowed to check for device battery life? That seems wayyy off limits

k__ 7y ago
They can reduce something that is good but not when your battery is low.
jtvjan 7y ago
It has been deprecated because of privacy concerns, so it will probably be removed from browsers soon.

marczellm 7y ago

More like a "things Chrome can do in 2020".

snazz 7y ago
Nearly all of these are supported by Firefox as well. Apple is slower at implementing Safari features, but most of the important ones work (prefers-color-scheme, for example).

Nextgrid 7y ago

I am concerned that the "dark mode" and "reduce motion" detection features can be used for browser & OS fingerprinting. Does anyone know if any countermeasures are in place against that?

saagarjha 7y ago
I think prefers-color-scheme was actually held up for a while due to fingerprinting concerns.

starpilot 7y ago

Can I create water, that I can feel?

ForHackernews 7y ago

See also, from yesterday: "The reckless, infinite scope of web browsers" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22615894 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22615894

kinlan 7y ago

Hahahaha. There's an amazing flattering IR photo of me in there :)

nneonneo 7y ago

The Web Coffee API (https://github.com/luruke/browser-2020#web-coffee-api https://github.com/luruke/browser-2020#web-coffee-api) is my favorite of the bunch. I definitely recommend checking out the linked WHATWG documentation, as well as the relevant RFC for the HTTP protocol: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2324 https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2324 What can’t a browser do these days?

findyourexit 7y ago
The Web Coffee API caught my attention, and was the first link I clicked through... Needless to say, I was not disappointed!
mr_toad 7y ago
> What can’t a browser do these days? Detect that you’re paying for bandwidth and not autoplay video.

dzonga 7y ago

browsers are truly a universal too and a great equalizer. not only do they enable open platforms, away from the walled gardens. they also provide a way to share software for 94% majority. But alas, people these days are fighting against browsers. heck a good portion of web developers out there don't know semantic html or what good it can do. they were raised in the SPA era. view source is now foreign to most people. or that html pages are automatically cached for offline is foreign to most people too. what a sad state of affairs.

kovac 7y ago

Looking at these, I feel that browsers do way too many things than they should.

zzo38computer 7y ago
Yes, I and others commented on other threads about such thing.

time0ut 7y ago

Sigh. I fell for the Web Coffee API link. I saw mention of a covfefe protocol and was excited to read about it.

rarecoil 7y ago
I did the same. I was hoping for an HTCPCP-like W3C specification that I had somehow missed.

nexuist 7y ago

I really, really, really wish iOS allowed push notifications through Safari. So many PWA ideas I want to explore are instantly stifled by that omission.

paulcarroty 7y ago
Is there no alternative way?
- nexuist 7y ago
  You can ask your users to download a third party app like PushBullet, but that's very lame and unprofessional.

dredmorbius 7y ago

This article needs a complement: Things you can't do with a browser in 2020.

benkitzelman 7y ago

...love a bit of rick astley with my morning Covfefe....

arthurcolle 7y ago

Payments API is lit. Didn't realize I could do it from the browser!

antibland 7y ago

For anyone wondering how well supported these features are globally (from caniuse): prefers-color-scheme: 80.85% prefers-reduced-motion: 84.05% Payment Request API: 90.06% Web Share API: 49.25% Push API: 78.57% Service Workers: 94.42% Web/native app install banners: 68.19% Get Installed Related Apps API: Not launched, 0% WebXR: 61.83% Picture-in-Picture: 85.01% Media Session API: 66.31% Chrome Sender API: 64.75% AirPlay: Unknown Force Touch API: 55.74% AR Quick Look: Unknown GamePad API: 95.18% WebUSB API: 65.27% Web Bluetooth API: 68.6% Web Locks API: 67.43% Keyboard Lock: 30.47% Generic Sensor API: 67.43% Credential Management API: 70.86% Clipboard API: 70.86% Presentation API: 15.24% full support, 80.14% partial Screen Orientation API: 76.16% getUserMedia camera selection: 93.48% Pointer Lock (Mouse Lock): 55.06% Theme Color: 37.39% Vibration API: 77.13% Web Coffee API: Unknown Battery Status API: 72.36% Page Visibility API: 97.44% Web Speech API: 92.88%

ficklepickle 7y ago
The web coffee API is a troll FYI. There is no covfefe protocol.

neillyons 7y ago

I fell for the coffee API It was half believable because of the teapot statue code.

shp0ngle 7y ago

> Browsers can register push notifications Oh yes I didn't notice EVERY PAGE on the planet asking me for that. (After asking me for e-mail newsletter signup and cookie consent.)

jooize 7y ago
Problem with Push Notifications is not the feature, but its implementation. Browsers decided to throw a popup instead of displaying an indicator of availability when a page supports Push Notifications. Possibly for discoverability. I disable the feature because there is no way to avoid the interruption and still easily accept for say a Discourse forum that I do want notifications from. Blaming all web pages for their implementations is pointless. Give up the fight and redesign the browser. Don’t remove the feature because you believed web designers would hold back on informing the browser of its web page’s capability until the user interacts with some element every web designer would create, differently.
Cthulhu_ 7y ago
I think this is because there's no rules on the internet (besides GDPR which is implemented with varying properness). Compare with iOS where developers are given clear rules and / or instructions, e.g. how they have to ease the user into notifications instead of just yeet a permissions dialog in their face. I think a lot of websites have just poorly / sloppily implemented the push notifications. I mean if they were to end an article with a call-to-action to subscribe to notifications and/or the newsletter, it'd be a much more pleasant experience. As it stands, I've disabled push notifications entirely (https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/3220216?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/3220216?co=GENIE.Pl...) and I've got a bookmarklet that will try and delete all sticky elements (including persistent headers, popups, greyed-out popup backgrounds, cookie banners, etc). One day I might turn that into an addon that automatically does it after a few seconds of loading a webpage, idk. One day browsers may implement pop-up blockers again as well but this time for the inline ones. I believe Google had an addon where you could report these things.
equalsione 7y ago
Firfox recently changed this so that you have it can only be invoked from within a button click or equivalent event[0] - I _think_ Chrome is following suit. 0 - https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Push_API https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Push_API

buboard 7y ago

things you could do, if the browser supported them

pjmlp 7y ago

I guess we can apply Greenspun's rule to modern browsers: "Any sufficiently complicated browser contains an ad-hoc, informally-specified, bug-ridden, slow implementation of half of operating system."

fuzzfactor 7y ago

Mount and Unmount a VHD File in Windows Explorer via a Right-Click https://www.howtogeek.com/51174/mount-and-unmount-a-vhd-file-in-windows-explorer-via-a-right-click/ https://www.howtogeek.com/51174/mount-and-unmount-a-vhd-file...

jessaustin 7y ago

I like the Intersection Observer: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Intersection_Observer_API https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Intersectio...

cdbattags 7y ago

So, uh, https://github.com/luruke/browser-2020#web-coffee-api https://github.com/luruke/browser-2020#web-coffee-api

TheBobinator 7y ago

What seperates psychological warfare from marketing? If you pay attention to advertising for a week, you will be marginally educated on what the advertiser wants you to know about their products and services; this has some economic utility as you cannot buy what you don't know exists. If you pay attention to psychological warfare for a week, first off you at bare minimum will not be happy or content as you are not buying if you are content or happy; they must torture you through mechanisms of persuation and manipulation in order to manufacture a desire. Once that is done, then they try to train you to have desirable habits to them; as a famous example McDonalds happy meals for kids creating obese adult customers 30 years later. If the food didn't have a serious downside (didn't literally injure you and make you depressed) you wouldn't come back to the restaraunt later for your momentary allevation of that depression\for a fix. Now, Go try to find reliable information on Coronavirus. Which one of those is going on 99% of the time? The sales funnel is really training you to be the product for them. The web is funded by marketers who engage in pyschological warfare for profit, no feature they will ever impliment is designed to make you happy, and technologists have tremendous profit motive to make up all sorts of excuses as to why this behaivour is acceptable when clearly it is destructive to both themselves and the web. Browsers today are trying to become an operarting system so they have absolute conrtrol over the user experience and as they do that they are on a slow march towards building an unbelievably bloated application who's philosophy is to confuse, distract, and screw you at every turn all while managing your perception. Case in point, it would take hours for me to research how to turn off all of those features as I don't need them and there's no mechanism in Firefox or Chrome to backup settings which those browsers reset randomly and intentionally. So call these things what they are; at best, bloat, at worst, a stock pump and dump scheme combined with a tremendous waste of time.

morninglight 7y ago

Some people want a laptop that can make waffles, wash and iron clothes, vacuum the carpet, paint walls, repair blacktop and work as a vibrator. My needs are simple. I want a small, rock-solid, terminal that is dedicated to HIGHLY secure and federally guaranteed transactions on a publicly funded military grade network for: Banking, Bill Payment, Tax payments, Voting. I do not want it to take photos, listen to me, show advertisments, play games, stream media, maps, start coffee machines, do email and chat, play audio/video files, draw graphics or change themes. And any "browser" that can do these additional functions should be banned from connecting to the high security network under penalty of death. Very simple.

wubin 7y ago

Additionally, here is a list of what browsers will be able to do: https://goo.gle/fugu-api-tracker https://goo.gle/fugu-api-tracker