WebApps functionality

David via epiphany-list <[email protected]> Fri, 10 Apr 2020 19:52:05 +0100
Newsgroups gmane.comp.gnome.apps.epiphany
Message-ID <[email protected]>
Hello. Since there seam to be no official forum-like place to discuss 
Epiphany, make suggestions to devs and ask questions, I'm writing an 
email that fits all three categories, about the WebApps feature.


I find the feature quite amazing, it has the potencial to change how 
GNU/Linux users use the web. However, in my opinion, the WebApps system 
(like Epiphany itself) lacks a few options to be perfect. I believe in 
order to have all the web sites you frequently use as Gnome Web 
applications, the software would need the following options:

1. Easy to use WebApp backup and restore functions as well as WebApp 
sharing(can essentially be the same function);

2. Ability to do selective blocking for each WebApp
(For example: You make a WebApp > You allow it to connect to the main 
site's domain and, if necessary, it's javascript > You allow any 
strictly necessary 3rd party domains to connect (and the javacript of 
the ones that are really necessary) > You disable all other 3rd party 
domains. The result is a fast, convenient and private WebApp that 
doesn't track you or shows ads.);

3. Ability to make WebApps with dark mode (Like you would see using 
Firefox with DarkReader extension);

4. Some fingerprint spoofing and other advanced options would be nice 
but not essential.



With that in mind, allow me to ask some questions:

5. Is there any interest in implementing such features?

6. Is there any way of achieving some of the things I mentioned at the 
current state of the software? For example, by manually editting files? 
Points 2., 3. and 4. seam difficult, since there's no extensions support 
in Epiphany... Point 1. seams achievable through some manual file 
backups, but I haven't tried to do so.

7. If these features aren't something the project is interested in, are 
there any software alternatives that you recommend? I would much rather 
see it on Epiphany, but I don't seam to find any other viable libre 
alternative for making webapps either way.

8. I don't have extensive programming experience so I'm not sure, but 
wouldn't it be viable to have a pre-made WebApp template that one could 
edit with software like Glade or something specifically developed for 
that purpose? The idea would be to have the "base" WebApp readily 
available, that developers can then modify minor things like blocking, 
appearance or icon, in order to make and share a tailor made WebApp for 
a website.


Hope you don't mind my ramblings. Thank you for the good work to any 
devs reading.

David