{"id":3562,"date":"2011-01-03T13:43:09","date_gmt":"2011-01-03T12:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/3562-creating-a-chrome-web-application.html"},"modified":"2011-01-03T13:43:09","modified_gmt":"2011-01-03T12:43:09","slug":"creating-a-chrome-web-application","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/3562-creating-a-chrome-web-application.html","title":{"rendered":"Creating a Web Application for the Google Chrome Web Store"},"content":{"rendered":"

I noticed an old post here getting a lot of hits: My first Google Chrome Web Application<\/a>. Unfortunately it was based on an early version of Chrome\u2019s app format. Here is an update.<\/p>\n

My web application in this example is this blog. I created a manifest in Notepad:<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Next, using my artistic skills, I made an icon of the required size: 128\u00d7128. I used .png format.<\/p>\n

Then I put the manifest and the icon into a folder called itwriting-app. I tested it by using Chrome\u2019s Tools \u2013 Extensions \u2013 Load unpacked extension. It worked fine.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Next I compressed  the folder to a zip file. I just right-clicked in Windows and chose Send to \u2013 Compressed (zipped) folder.<\/p>\n

Then I logged into the Developer Dashboard at the Chrome Web Store (I had to pay $5.00) and uploaded the app:<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Next, I had to complete some metadata. I chose a couple of categories, uploaded the icon as the image for the app, and uploaded a screenshot of a sample article. Clicked Publish Changes and it was done<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If you click Install, you get an icon in the Chrome Apps list, which appears when you open a new tab.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Of course it is just a link to a web site. Why is this interesting?<\/p>\n

A few reasons. One is that it is easy to get started, which promotes usage.<\/p>\n

Next, you can charge for your app. Once the user has paid, you use the Licensing API<\/a> to check whether the user has paid, or is a trial user, or has not paid. This also depends on the user\u2019s Google ID, promoting Google\u2019s identity system as well as its payment system. Users get single sign-on if they are already logged into Google. Developers do not have to worry about storing passwords, which can be an embarrassment<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Web Apps are also interesting if you request additional permissions. There are three at the moment: geolocation, notifications, and unlimited storage. These give additional capabilities to your app. You can also enable autoupdating<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Finally, Google wants us to accept that web applications are apps too, blurring the boundaries between desktop, mobile device, and web.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I noticed an old post here getting a lot of hits: My first Google Chrome Web Application. Unfortunately it was based on an early version of Chrome\u2019s app format. Here is an update. My web application in this example is this blog. I created a manifest in Notepad: Next, using my artistic skills, I made … Continue reading Creating a Web Application for the Google Chrome Web Store<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,67,80,96],"tags":[160,256,422,849,981],"class_list":["post-3562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-google","category-professional","category-software-development","category-web-authoring","tag-apps","tag-chrome","tag-google","tag-software-development","tag-web-store"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3562\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}