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The combinations of web intents and Google's GDrive implementation / Dropbox seem interesting. I could link a file with a web intent, you use your Chrome App or

The combinations of web intents and Google's GDrive implementation / Dropbox seem interesting. I could link a file with a web intent, you use your Chrome App or similar to edit it, save it back to your Dropbox / drive - then your editor makes you another link which you can share with others to start the process over again. When you think about it this seems to align well with the original philosophies of the web. Exciting times.

kinlan 14y ago
This is one of the use-cases I am pushing.
robmcm 14y ago
The key is that it decouples the services, we won't have to wait for service x to implement the api of service y. Instead you just say implement this intent and then boom you can use any service that supports that intent. This is huge for web apps, and is a huge blow for local file system fans.
MatthewPhillips 14y ago
So what if I have 5 apps that can edit the file type. Do I have to choose which app I want to use, every time? That is the way it works on Android, and it is bad UX.
- kinlan 14y ago
  It depends. The UI in Chrome doesn't yet have a defaulting mechanism, but the intention is to have this so that you can set your preferred app to use and have it work seamlessly.
  - MatthewPhillips 14y ago
    Defaulting is not enough. It has to be easy to switch to another. On my Android phone I have 5 web browsers installed. If I add a bookmark to the homescreen it asks me which web browser I want to use to open it. Every time I click on it. I could, as you suggest, set a default, but if I do that then that browser owns all of my links and the only way to change it is to hunt down the setting to disable the default (which is buried in the settings UI I suppose). So I live with the (extreme annoyance) of clicking on a link within the browser that then prompts me which browser I'd like to use to open it. Getting the UX right on this is by far the most important part of the project.
    - ivasilov 14y ago
      I'm annoyed by the exact same thing. Chrome Beta is good, but it is still a beta. For some sites, I've found the built-in browser to be better. A proper UX solution, in my opinion, would be using a 3-4 seconds dialog ("Opening with Chrome") with a Change button. That way, you can change the default app at the moment you notice it. Of course, it comes with a delay, so it wouldn't work well for others.
      - untog 14y ago
        A 3-4 second delay on every app launch? No way.
        abraham 14y ago
        Replacing the currently indefinite delay with a 3-4 second one sounds like an improvement.
        untog 14y ago
        That only works if you launch the wrong app every time. Extremely unlikely.
      - maxerickson 14y ago
        I'd rather see a long tap bring up options related to a shortcut. It's less discoverable than a delay, but it is also far less annoying in the common case.
    - postd 14y ago
      I too agree with this. Though web intents is really good and necessity for web but UX, by far, is the key for this. Just on the side note - there will be lots of other services (like translate etc) which would be intentified, and anything other than providing in-line UX will kill intuitiveness.
      - kinlan 14y ago
  - bergie 14y ago
    I would imagine this would work somewhat similarly to Android, so you get a list of intent providers you have, and a way to make one the default: http://android-er.blogspot.de/2011/03/pick-file-using-intentactiongetcontent.html http://android-er.blogspot.de/2011/03/pick-file-using-intent...
  - groby_b 14y ago
    It's not only the intention, code is being written as we speak :)
- nym 14y ago
  It's so much worse in iOS- to share a picture on Facebook you need to close the camera, open up FB, then find the file and upload it. After switching from Android to an iPhone, I miss the powerful User Experience that Android provides.

kinlan 14y ago

This is one of the use-cases I am pushing.

robmcm 14y ago

The key is that it decouples the services, we won't have to wait for service x to implement the api of service y. Instead you just say implement this intent and then boom you can use any service that supports that intent. This is huge for web apps, and is a huge blow for local file system fans.

MatthewPhillips 14y ago

So what if I have 5 apps that can edit the file type. Do I have to choose which app I want to use, every time? That is the way it works on Android, and it is bad UX.

kinlan 14y ago
It depends. The UI in Chrome doesn't yet have a defaulting mechanism, but the intention is to have this so that you can set your preferred app to use and have it work seamlessly.
- MatthewPhillips 14y ago
  Defaulting is not enough. It has to be easy to switch to another. On my Android phone I have 5 web browsers installed. If I add a bookmark to the homescreen it asks me which web browser I want to use to open it. Every time I click on it. I could, as you suggest, set a default, but if I do that then that browser owns all of my links and the only way to change it is to hunt down the setting to disable the default (which is buried in the settings UI I suppose). So I live with the (extreme annoyance) of clicking on a link within the browser that then prompts me which browser I'd like to use to open it. Getting the UX right on this is by far the most important part of the project.
  - ivasilov 14y ago
    I'm annoyed by the exact same thing. Chrome Beta is good, but it is still a beta. For some sites, I've found the built-in browser to be better. A proper UX solution, in my opinion, would be using a 3-4 seconds dialog ("Opening with Chrome") with a Change button. That way, you can change the default app at the moment you notice it. Of course, it comes with a delay, so it wouldn't work well for others.
    - untog 14y ago
      A 3-4 second delay on every app launch? No way.
      - abraham 14y ago
        Replacing the currently indefinite delay with a 3-4 second one sounds like an improvement.
        untog 14y ago
        That only works if you launch the wrong app every time. Extremely unlikely.
    - maxerickson 14y ago
      I'd rather see a long tap bring up options related to a shortcut. It's less discoverable than a delay, but it is also far less annoying in the common case.
  - postd 14y ago
    I too agree with this. Though web intents is really good and necessity for web but UX, by far, is the key for this. Just on the side note - there will be lots of other services (like translate etc) which would be intentified, and anything other than providing in-line UX will kill intuitiveness.
    - kinlan 14y ago
- bergie 14y ago
  I would imagine this would work somewhat similarly to Android, so you get a list of intent providers you have, and a way to make one the default: http://android-er.blogspot.de/2011/03/pick-file-using-intentactiongetcontent.html http://android-er.blogspot.de/2011/03/pick-file-using-intent...
- groby_b 14y ago
  It's not only the intention, code is being written as we speak :)
nym 14y ago
It's so much worse in iOS- to share a picture on Facebook you need to close the camera, open up FB, then find the file and upload it. After switching from Android to an iPhone, I miss the powerful User Experience that Android provides.