This UI is so hot.
Show HN: An app store just for installable web apps
21–30 of 233 posts
Re: Show HN: An app store just for installable web apps
#22I like the concept a lot, but I also think it should filter to only installable apps by default. If you detect a user is on a mobile device, it would probably also make sense to enable the mobile filter by default too.
It would also be nice if there was an offline-capable filter as well, but maybe I missed it?
I also notice the Developer tab is not part of the PWA, which kicks you out of the PWA experience on iOS, even though it seems like that marketing page could be contained within the tab? It might also be nice to link to resources for getting started on developing a high quality PWA, if any resources like that exist.
Now that PWAs on iOS can finally show notifications (if the user wants), I hope more developers will take them seriously. I trust browser isolation more than I trust native app isolation, and a lot of the native apps that I use would work perfectly as a PWA.
Re: Show HN: An app store just for installable web apps
#23I really hope your store takes off. I will say a prayer or two to this end. May your good character flourish and may you avoid all temptations that come with gatekeeping
Apple and Google's app stores are death. They motivated me to re-code my c and java-based iOS and Android apps in js+wasm (SPA/PWA) from scratch. For a long time, I announced it with its proper name ("PWA"). I became very frustrated every time I interacted with users who asked "what does that mean?". So now it's simply "Web Version"
Re: Show HN: An app store just for installable web apps
#24I love it!
Please consider adding openlibrary.org which has a PWA already.
Re: Show HN: An app store just for installable web apps
#25Very nice, one issue is that (on Safari iOS 16) when I navigate back to the list my scroll position is forgotten, I could understand when using my browser back button but I used the one in the UI so I’d expect it to remember the scroll position.
Beyond that nitpick though this is excellent, well done.
Re: Show HN: An app store just for installable web apps
#26Really good idea, what I'd suggest would be a separate Open Source category/tag. And a dark theme (based on prefers-color-scheme).
Also, submitted a developer application; have released a few PWAs myself - hope to post them there too!
Re: Show HN: An app store just for installable web apps
#27I like the concept a lot, but I also think it should filter to only installable apps by default. If you detect a user is on a mobile device, it would probably also make sense to enable the mobile filter by default too. It would also be nice if there was an offline-capable filter as well, but maybe I missed it? I also notice the Developer tab is not part of the PWA, which kicks you out of the PWA experience on iOS, ev…
> PWAs on iOS can finally show notifications
This has been such a great addition, once it was officially added I've quickly built a small web app that can now distribute notifications to all my devices effortlessly, with a single codebase and with no need to pay the dreaded $99/yr subscription. Haven't released that publicly but I might at some point once I clean up the mess that inevitably resulted from me writing it in around 2 hours.
Re: Show HN: An app store just for installable web apps
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's nice to have things all basically browser based as it gives the developer more control of the product and creates a single reasonable platform. I get that. But as a user, I really hate browser-based applications and avoid them entirely unless I have no other option.
What do you prefer? Native apps?
Yes. Although this depends a lot on the quality of the software, native apps tend to be much better in terms of UI and performance, and they tend to use less system resources -- sometimes a lot less.
Re: Show HN: An app store just for installable web apps
#29Sweet domain! Was it expensive? Feedback: The home page's horizontal carousels/reels lack trackpad scrolling functionality. Interaction is limited to the arrow buttons on the side. To enhance user experience, it would be beneficial to make them scrollable via trackpad, similar to the Apple Store website.[0] [0] https://www.apple.com/store
Asking the important questions.
I'm going through this very thing now. I'm focused on getting the backend features working, but getting pressure to make the tiny tweaks to the UI. Once you open the UI to actual users, priorities quickly get rearranged. The UI complaints are the punch in the "everyone has a game plan until they get punched in the face" phrase.
Re: Show HN: An app store just for installable web apps
#30How are you sourcing the current listings? I see there's a "list your app" (which means I can't submit an app that isn't mine, right?), but there are some high quality installable PWAs that are missing. Hoppscotch is a good example. Not expecting you to index the entire internet and filter out all the spam. Just curious how the current list was built.
That's correct, at the moment you can only add an app that you can claim ownership of (vis dns). The current list was manually added by us + by devs who have listed their apps on our site, but we'll be rolling out a more scalable solution soon, along with some better curation. I think that's a good idea to allow users to recommend listings - we'll look into adding that soon. Would love for you to create an account so…
maybe a "suggestion box" method for people that know of good sites so that you might contact the dev directly about being listed?