zlacker

>>jaffat+(OP)
I hate using web apps. On desktop, mobile, wherever. The author's list of things they want supported by Mobile Safari is just aggravating:

> Here are a list of things you still can’t do with mobile safari due to Apple’s refusal to support them:

>

> Create an app loading screen

> Use push notifications

> Add offline support

> Create an initial app UI to load instantly

> Prompt installation to the home screen through browser-guided dialog

Why do I want these things, as a user. App loading screens?

I love the web. I love hyperlinks, text and images. The web of connections that lead you to information. Everything in that list is detrimental to a good experience on the web.

I don't want push notifications, I barely enable them for native apps. And it bugs the hell out of me when every second website in desktop Safari prompts to send me push notifications. No. Why would I want this on mobile?

Same thing with the home screen. I love the fact that the address bar in my web browser is my history, my reminders, my bookmarks, my open tabs. I start typing what I want and I'm there. Finding native apps on my home screen is only just getting to the same place with Spotlight, why would I want to make the web worse by sticking icons for pages on my home screen?

And browser-guided dialogs to put more icons on my home screen? Seriously?

This author's post is a great argument against web apps on mobile.

>>interp+W9
Push notifications and home-screen icons are strictly opt-in. If you don't want them, don't opt, simple as. I use webapps for several things because I can much better protect myself from tracking and data-harvesting with a well-configured browser than I can using a native app.

>>fredle+he
As I said, desktop Safari allows websites to prompt me for push notifications.

I can't stand it: that a web site has the ability to display a modal prompt sheet that I have to cancel.

>>interp+Re
This isn't new. Desktop browsers have been showing modal prompts via the javascript `prompt()` method for quite some time.

>>marpst+jf
It's not coincidental that the ability to do so has been actively limited by so many browsers (with opt-out forever options in some cases).