Re: [w3c/manifest] suggest in standard calling website->webapp process unified "add to home screen" or such in all browsers (not install) (Issue #1096)

Summing up main points:
1. app is home screen and full screen
2. site -> app: drag domain and drop icon with name
3. put sites back to browsers
4. go on enabling web developers to create competitive web apps (more than home screen and full screen...)

We have to fight for things and I think we would step back, regroup and fight for these key points. Now apple couples sites and apps with add to home screen, chromium calls it install. There is no simple unified name to make an app from a site/domain. People confuse apps with sites, web apps with web site shortcuts. Point 4 is extremely cool, a marathon well run.

Some other thoughts:
- people do not want web apps, they want their home screen button and full screen experience
- people fear installations from the web, have no idea what they would really gain so they just want a shortcut to their secure tested web browser or simply quit wanting more than a site
- no need to use words for user facing explanations like web app, pwa, install, os integaration, app launcher etc. maybe not even app! users learn implicitly, they want a button and full screen experience, standalone navigation, that is an "app"
- also, users learn everything implicitly, if they have a real action or so to bind things: like if they learn to drag domains and then comes an app icon they will drop it to the home screen (and get an icon without arrows...) and know that they now have a full screen experience, standalone from the browser, and they can find this now on the phone/device not in the browser (terms like app launcher, app finder, app integaration to os etc. are not important, they had a way to find experiences on the device, now they find the newcomer their

So what I find crucial is to (my suggestions above):
1. define a very simple and user understandable way of defining a (web) app
2. focus our energy on finding a common platform independent way of simply convert a site to app (calling it unified add to home screen because install is horrible)
3. focus on separating web apps and web sites
- on device, app icon without arrows vs. in browser, fav icon and favorite sites logic like favorite bar, favorite tab, favorite find with typing, voice whatever, using shortcut arrows n the favorite tab etc...
- we may want to suggest calling things favorite instead of "bookmarks" or "shortcuts" because shortcuts is a confusion and it is now on our "territory": shortcuts can be on the home screen etc. which should be extremely discouraged... even apple mix the 2 things which is legally not totally ok if they clear all browser domain data for sites but not for apps
- so yes, it also has a legal reasoning, if dragging the domain to the home screen is an implicit legal contract like downloading a native app to home screen, it should not be confused with shortcuts to websites

I do think we have to first clear the way for this very simple definition of web app, and then if users start to use some from the home screen, standalone and it will be clear what is a site and what is an app (apple clearing sites but not apps may even help) then with time we will see very powerful apps from the web that utilize the efforts of a lot of people working on point 4.


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Received on Tuesday, 22 August 2023 05:19:27 UTC