That's a great overview!
There's 2 points I think haven't fully been addressed.
1. Section 8. Navigation
Much of this work (and HTML5 in general) is about bringing the Web
Platform up to being "equal" with "native apps". But one thing that the
Web does that native apps can't do is deep linking (ignoring the
fustercluck of intents). I think it would provide a significant
advantage if it was also possible to deep link into installed web apps.
I understand this is very complex and I'm not proposing any solution
right now. But if we don't include this then we are in effect cutting
web applications down to the level of native apps instead of leaping
ahead of them.
Use Case: Social sharing
User A and User B both have the same web app installed on the devices
they are using. User A finds a resource they like inside the app and
decide to share this from within the app through one of their social
networks. User B sees this link in their social feed and taps on it.
Since User B also has this web app installed it would be "nice" to be
able to open that resource directly within the installed app. Otherwise
User X's browser would just open it like a normal web resource. This
can also be relevant for the same user using the same web app across
multiple devices.
NOTE: This is one of the key drivers we have found for building business
cases of "Web instead of Native".
2. Section 6. Start page
This is lightly touched on and slightly related to the point above, but
the common experience especially on iOS is that even when you background
an installed app and then foreground it again it reloads the entire
state. This effectively breaks the UX and makes this mode almost
unusable. It's definitely possible to use localStorage, etc. to work
around this but the UX is horrible. Allowing installed apps to persist
their resources and loaded state across background/foreground (and
ideally even launches) would be a massive step forward. Perhaps naming
this a "First use page" would help clarify this focus?
roBman
On 27/11/13 8:02 AM, Marcos Caceres wrote:
Over the last few weeks, a few of us folks in the Web Mob IG have been
investigating the use cases and requirements for bookmarking web apps to home
screen. The output of that research is this living document:
http://w3c-webmob.github.io/installable-webapps/
That (ongoing) research is helping to inform the manifest spec. A bunch of us
have been working together on IRC, twitter, etc. on a new version of the
manifest spec:
http://w3c.github.io/manifest/
The Editors would appreciate if people take a look and see if you agree with
the feature set.
** Right now, please refrain from bike-shedding! **
Unless anyone objects, the Editors would like to request the start of a CFC
towards publishing a FPWD of the manifest spec.
