On Wednesday, July 15, 2015 at 3:34:42 PM UTC+10, Anne van Kesteren wrote: > On Wed, Jul 15, 2015 at 12:00 AM, <mar...@marcosc.com> wrote: > > * It's not clear what problems manifest solves > > This is by far the biggest problem. I think we ended up with manifests > because packages have manifests and iOS/Android use packages for > applications, but none of that translates well to the web.
Forgot to address this one - why we ended up with manifests is not important if we are starting from scratch. Before we get to "what problems manifest solves", let's go back to vision and where some people, but maybe not all people here, want to take the Web: some people believe that web applications should be "installable"; That it should be possible to install them to the homescreen of a device; that they should integrate with OS permissions and services; that they should be managed in an indistinguishable manner to native applications. And there is a belief that users want this too, presumably because of the popularity of apps stores and apps downloaded from them. This doesn't necessarily mean installing a web application from an applications store - but rather from the URL from where the application is accessed. Do we even agree on the above? Be good to know 'cause I honestly don't know what people want or what vision they have for the Web anymore here. Maybe we should go to just focusing on browser tabs - or building a better webview component? I dunno. Lack of shared vision and agreement makes this and extremely difficult problem to solve in any collaborative manner. Now, Web manifest doesn't solve all "installability" aspects [1]. Its role is in providing the metadata needed to do the following (i.e., "what problems manifest solves" are these): * to help put an icon on the homescreen, and provide a bit more power than <link rel=icon>. * start up parameters: it tells the runtime what orientation to launch in and lock to before anything is displayed (to avoid a crap experience of changing orientation after the application starts). * display mode: start the app in fullscreen, or with some chrome. * app scope: the URL space to which the manifest applies. * Splash screens: self explanatory. [1] https://infrequently.org/2015/06/progressive-apps-escaping-tabs-without-losing-our-soul/ _______________________________________________ dev-platform mailing list dev-platform@lists.mozilla.org https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-platform
