Re: [w3ctag/design-reviews] Tabbed web apps (Issue #841)

Hi @hober and TAG reviewers.

Thanks for your considered review.

If I could rephrase the review feedback so I'm clear I understand it: you are saying that this is a potentially useful feature that the browser could offer, but don't see why it needs to be declared in the manifest or requested by the developer. Why not have (as either an always-on or user-opt-in browser feature) all `display: standalone` apps get tabs in their tab strip?

While that is a position we could take, it seems to unnecessarily limit developer control over their own app experience (in a way that doesn't really empower users). There are good reasons for one app to want a tabbed experience while another does not. For example, a game almost certainly would not want a tabbed experience, while a document editor probably would. This is a decision that apps on native app platforms can make for themselves (e.g. on Windows or macOS, there is no system-wide "all apps must be tabbed" UI treatment, yet individual apps can provide a tabbed document experience). The goal is to empower developers to deliver the best experience to their users for their particular use case.

You could make the same claim about any other display mode: "why should the developer get to choose between `minimal-ui` vs `standalone`, shouldn't the browser force a consistent treatment or let the user choose?" The answer is the same: the developer knows what is the best way to frame their app. (Of course, on the web platform, this sentiment does not extend to letting the developer take any harmful actions against the user, but that is not the case here.)

Does the above warrant re-examination by the TAG or would you still consider this issue closed?

Regards

Matt

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