Re: Web App Stores: functions

Hi all
I believe this list is quite good. I'm adding some comments below

On 17/apr/2012, at 13:49, Scott Wilson wrote:

> 
> - Submissions
> A web app store supports the submission of new web apps, whether hosted or installed. 
> Submissions may be moderated or unmoderated. 
> Submissions may be by anyone, or only by registered developers. 
> Installed web apps submitted by developers may require signature verification.
> Submissions include metadata about the web app, for example the title, description, author, icons, screenshots.

An important aspect is the verification of the ownership of the webapp, since anyone can submit an URL and then fill the metadata. Verification can be made with a process similar to the Google Analytics verification process (adding a meta tag or saving a file on the server).
The Mozilla app manifest is a nice idea (https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Apps/Manifest) because it's a quick way to submit webapps and partially solves the problem of the ownership verification.

> 
> - Installation/embedding
> A web app store supports some method of installing or embedding web apps, or registering them with a user's local app registry.
> Examples:
> - "Add to iGoogle" button
> - Opera Widgets installation in the Opera browser
> - Mobile app store buy/install options

This is a very important point and a standard is definitely missing here, especially on mobile. If you check what OpenAppMkt and Zeewe are doing, on iOS, the user is asked to manually "add to home" a webapp, while on Android this is handled via a native Android application that calls a native API to create a shortcut on the home screen. Hopefully it would be nice if Mozilla's "navigator.mozApps.install" API will become a standard and will be supported by all major mobile OSs. 

> 
> Some other common functions:
> 
> - Payments for apps
> - Payments in apps
> - User registration and profiles
> 
Webapps stores should also provide stats about the number of installations (and possibly launches) of the webapps.

Received on Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:28:30 UTC