Re: How will regular users know which web apps work offline?

> I wonder if it would make sense for the manifest to store metadata about the
> installed application - like it's name, an icon, and a description, so that
> browsers could provide an area where users could browse their offline
> applications for when they didn't have an internet connection? I think this
> would have benefit to users and lead to more people being aware of offline
> usage.

This is essentially what the Widgets spec is supposed to achieve.  See
here for an example of a widget configuration:

http://www.w3.org/TR/widgets/#example-configuration-document

It makes sense to split packaging a website from providing offline
storage/caching technologies, since the two are different solutions to
different problems.  It's true that there is some crossover,
especially if a widget includes content in its package.  But the
widgets spec has its own problems, not least of which is a terrible
name.

Letting users know that your site will work when offline doesn't seem
like a terribly difficult problem to solve at the application level,
to be honest.  I think as a developer I'd rather browser vendors spend
their time on other stuff :-).  But it's certainly a fair point, and
does need to be considered as part of the UX of your app.

Cheers,

Andrew

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Received on Saturday, 1 September 2012 12:35:39 UTC