Re: W3C ���������MiniApp ���������������������������������������������

Hello,

I'm Alex Russell, an engineer leading some of the PWA work happening within
the Chrome team at Google.

This whitepaper is extraordinarily useful, as it crisply describes the
important properties of a major platform which is not as well known outside
the China market. The best forum in which to respond wasn't entirely clear,
hence this email. Please let me know if you'd prefer I file specific issues
in the related Github repo.

Regarding web capabilities, the whitepaper and gap analysis might benefit
from updates to include mention of a few recent and upcoming features:


   -

   Progressive Web App organic installation
   <https://www.google.com/search?q=pwa+installation&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS834US834&oq=pwa+installation&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i59j0l2.1844j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8>
   ("Add to Homescreen", launched in 2015) enable users to download/install
   web apps
   -

   Trusted Web Activities
   <https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2019/02/using-twa> (launched
   spring '18) allow PWAs to be listed in app stores on Android. Microsoft's
   work allowed PWAs to be listed in the Windows store starting in 2017. Both
   of these systems provide access extended native capabilities
   -

   Web Packaging <https://github.com/WICG/webpackage> (SXG launched spring
   '18 <https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2018/11/signed-exchanges>
   & Bundles
   <https://wicg.github.io/webpackage/draft-yasskin-wpack-bundled-exchanges.html>
   in development
   <https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=994700> now)
   allows web content (including full applications) to be signed, shared
   offline <https://youtu.be/rs-3R0ji6dA>, and potentially verified.
   Packages also allow web content to be bundled into a single binary file
   that can be hosted off-origin for optimal performance.
   -

   AR capabilities
   <https://developers.google.com/ar/develop/java/scene-viewer>, including
   the <model-viewer> web component
   <https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2019/02/model-viewer>
   -

   Face tracking & barcode scanning via the Shape Detection API
   <https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2019/01/shape-detection> (in
   development <https://www.chromestatus.com/feature/4757990523535360>) or
   custom OpenCV.js implementations via WASM
   <https://github.com/riju/WebCamera> (available now).
   -

   The Contacts API <https://www.chromestatus.com/feature/6511327140904960>
   (coming soon to Chrome) enables PWAs to request the user's contact
   information.
   -

   Fingerprint authentication
   <https://blog.chromium.org/2018/09/chrome-70-beta-shape-detection-web.html>
   via WebAuthN and the Credential Management API
   <https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Credential_Management_API>
   (launched in Chrome)
   -

   Portals <https://web.dev/hands-on-portals> (in development) for
   transition animations


The gap analysis document
<https://w3c.github.io/mini-app-white-paper/comparison.html> is very
thorough, and I thank the authors for such a detailed table.

In areas such as Widgets, we have sketched multiple approaches for PWAs to
provide this sort of UI. The best way forward hasn't been clear, so my team
is keen to learn more about the requirements for these widgets and to
explore if there's a web-centric way to address them. In many other areas
where gaps between MiniApps and PWAs have been noted, we're also keen to
close them and design collaboratively. In some areas (such as AR model
loading), we have preferred to help developers meet those needs via
libraries with a potential path towards standardisation based on that
experience. Collaborating on those APIs seems like a large opportunity to
improve speed and capabilities for developers across the entire ecosystem.

A few high-level questions remain from the "Way Forward in W3C
<https://w3c.github.io/mini-app-white-paper/#way-forward-in-w3c>" section
of the whitepaper:


   -

   To what extent is it a goal to enable standardised MiniApps to
   participate in the web? That is, is it a goal for browsers (e.g. UC, Opera,
   Xiaomi Browser, Samsung Internet, Chrome, Firefox, Brave, etc.) to be able
   to display standardised MiniApps?
   -

   There's a mention of MiniApp URI scheme, which sounds promising. URLs
   and origins are core to the web's architecture and bringing MiniApp content
   into the web could be a great step forward. To what extent are the firms
   working within the IG open to independent hosting and deployment of this
   content at unique origins?
   -

   Given the large number of proposed capabilities, and my team's interest
   in closing those gaps from the web-standards/PWA side, is it a goal of the
   potential standardisation process to adopt web-standard APIs where they are
   available?
   -

   Is it a goal of the MiniApp standardisation work to move the
   frequently-used set of native controls into standards? The proposal for
   models and maps seem particularly compelling.


If there's a way to align MiniApp standardisation with the work we're
pursuing to expand PWA capabilities and work together to close the gaps
identified in the whitepaper, I'm excited to collaborate.

Regards

Alex Russell

Google Chrome