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WebRunner is a simple XULRunner based browser that hosts web applications without the normal web browser user interface. WebRunner is based on a concept called Site Specific Browsers (SSB). An SSB is an application with an embedded browser designed to work exclusively with a single web application. It’s doesn’t have the menus, toolbars and accoutrement's of a normal web browser. Some people have called it a "[http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/05/13/a-dedicated-distraction-free-browser-for-gmail/ distraction free browser]" because none of the typical browser chrome is used. An SSB also has a tighter integration with the OS and desktop than a typical web application running through a web browser.
== WebRunner / SSB Objectives ==
Looking at what has already been done and discussed about desktop/webapp integration, the following is a suggested roadmap for SSB experimentation:
* '''Separate process:''' When the webapp goes down or locks up, I don’t want anything else affected. Thankfully, Firefox does have session restore, but that is beside the point. When I open many tabs and have several webapps running in a browser, things get slow and unstable after a day or two.
* '''Minimal UI:''' A generic browser UI is not needed for webapps. If any UI is present, make it specific to the webapp I am using.
* '''Basic desktop integration:''' Create shortcuts to start the webapp, add ability to show specialized icons in the tray or dock and ability to display notifications.
* '''Platform with extensions:''' I don’t want to download a full browser runtime for each webapp. I do want to be able to add some custom code/features that are not directly supported in the webapp. I should be able to install one runtime and then get packages or extensions for each webapp. Think Firefox extensions or Greasemonkey scripts. These extensions should be able to tweak the SSB UI as well.
* '''Open external links in real browser:''' If I click a link in the webapp that opens a new site, don’t change my webapp browser window. Open all external links in my default/real browser.
== Current Features ==
* Window title tracking
* Context menu for basic clipboard and selection operations
* Simple Print support via context menu
* About support via context menu which is useful for checking the XULRunner runtime version
* Launch Webrunner with commandline parameters to host specific webapps
* Web application profile support - parameters for a web app can be saved to an INI-style *.webapp file
* Support for webapp owned popup windows - some email webapps can use a popup to compose email
* Show float-over link destinations in the statusbar so users can see where the link will take them
* Support download manager
== Wishlist ==
* Add menus for page setup, open profile and work offline
* Add support for inline spellcheck and suggestions on context menu
* Add support for form field autocompletion, like Firefox
* Enable extension support so WebRunner can be tweaked or enhanced. Also, webapps themselves can be tweaked by extensions
* Create an tool to create new webapp profiles so new webapps can be installed from WebRunner
* Create an extension to allow Firefox to create webapp profiles since most of this process starts in the browser
== Web Application Profile ==
A webapp profile is a simple, INI-style text file that specifies some parameters about a webapp. The profile can be used to launch the webapp in WebRunner. Here is the list of parameters:
* uri - the uri/url of the web app (http://mail.google.com)
* icon - the icon you want to use for the WebRunner window when running this web app
* showstatus - turns the statusbar on or off for this web app
* showlocation - turns the readonly location bar on or off for this web app
* enablenavigation - turns the hotkey history navigation (ALT+LEFT, ALT+RIGHT and ALT+HOME) on or off for this web app
Launch WebRunner with <code>-webapp <web profile></code> to load the specified web profile. Any of the profile parameters can also be passed directly on the commandline as well.
== Installer ==
The installer should configure Windows to associate *.webapp files with WebRunner. This means that when you double-click or launch a *.webapp file, WebRunner is launched and automatically opens the web application.
== Installs ==
Install (Windows): [http://starkravingfinkle.org/projects/webrunner/webrunner-0.5-win32.exe webrunner-0.5-win32.exe] (5 MB)<br>
Install (Mac): [http://starkravingfinkle.org/projects/webrunner/webrunner-0.5-mac.dmg webrunner-0.5-mac.dmg] (18MB)<br>
Install (Linux): [http://starkravingfinkle.org/projects/webrunner/webrunner-0.5-linux webrunner-0.5-linux] (7MB)<br>
Archive: [http://starkravingfinkle.org/projects/webrunner/webrunner-0.5.tar.gz webrunner-0.5.tar.gz] (10MB)<br>
Source: [http://starkravingfinkle.org/projects/webrunner/webrunner-0.5-src.zip webrunner-0.5-src.zip]<br>
Profiles: [http://starkravingfinkle.org/projects/webrunner/gmail.webapp gmail.webapp], [http://starkravingfinkle.org/projects/webrunner/gcalendar.webapp gcalendar.webapp], [http://starkravingfinkle.org/projects/webrunner/gdocs.webapp gdocs.webapp] & [http://starkravingfinkle.org/projects/webrunner/groups.webapp groups.webapp]
== Blog Posts ==
[http://starkravingfinkle.org/blog/2006/11/site-specific-browers/ Site Specific Browsers]<br>
[http://starkravingfinkle.org/blog/2007/03/site-specific-browser-webrunner/ WebRunner]<br>
[http://starkravingfinkle.org/blog/2007/03/site-specific-browser-using-webrunner/ Using WebRunner]<br>
[http://starkravingfinkle.org/blog/2007/06/webrunner-gears-offline-desktop-reader/ WebRunner + Gears = Offline Desktop Reader]<br>
[http://starkravingfinkle.org/blog/2007/07/webrunner-05-now-with-more-power/ WebRunner 0.5]<br>
[http://starkravingfinkle.org/blog/2007/07/webrunner-05-mac-support/ WebRunner 0.5 - Mac Support]<br>
[http://starkravingfinkle.org/blog/2007/07/webrunner-05-linux-install/ WebRunner 0.5 - Linux Install]<br>
== WebRunner / SSB Objectives ==
Looking at what has already been done and discussed about desktop/webapp integration, the following is a suggested roadmap for SSB experimentation:
* '''Separate process:''' When the webapp goes down or locks up, I don’t want anything else affected. Thankfully, Firefox does have session restore, but that is beside the point. When I open many tabs and have several webapps running in a browser, things get slow and unstable after a day or two.
* '''Minimal UI:''' A generic browser UI is not needed for webapps. If any UI is present, make it specific to the webapp I am using.
* '''Basic desktop integration:''' Create shortcuts to start the webapp, add ability to show specialized icons in the tray or dock and ability to display notifications.
* '''Platform with extensions:''' I don’t want to download a full browser runtime for each webapp. I do want to be able to add some custom code/features that are not directly supported in the webapp. I should be able to install one runtime and then get packages or extensions for each webapp. Think Firefox extensions or Greasemonkey scripts. These extensions should be able to tweak the SSB UI as well.
* '''Open external links in real browser:''' If I click a link in the webapp that opens a new site, don’t change my webapp browser window. Open all external links in my default/real browser.
== Current Features ==
* Window title tracking
* Context menu for basic clipboard and selection operations
* Simple Print support via context menu
* About support via context menu which is useful for checking the XULRunner runtime version
* Launch Webrunner with commandline parameters to host specific webapps
* Web application profile support - parameters for a web app can be saved to an INI-style *.webapp file
* Support for webapp owned popup windows - some email webapps can use a popup to compose email
* Show float-over link destinations in the statusbar so users can see where the link will take them
* Support download manager
== Wishlist ==
* Add menus for page setup, open profile and work offline
* Add support for inline spellcheck and suggestions on context menu
* Add support for form field autocompletion, like Firefox
* Enable extension support so WebRunner can be tweaked or enhanced. Also, webapps themselves can be tweaked by extensions
* Create an tool to create new webapp profiles so new webapps can be installed from WebRunner
* Create an extension to allow Firefox to create webapp profiles since most of this process starts in the browser
== Web Application Profile ==
A webapp profile is a simple, INI-style text file that specifies some parameters about a webapp. The profile can be used to launch the webapp in WebRunner. Here is the list of parameters:
* uri - the uri/url of the web app (http://mail.google.com)
* icon - the icon you want to use for the WebRunner window when running this web app
* showstatus - turns the statusbar on or off for this web app
* showlocation - turns the readonly location bar on or off for this web app
* enablenavigation - turns the hotkey history navigation (ALT+LEFT, ALT+RIGHT and ALT+HOME) on or off for this web app
Launch WebRunner with <code>-webapp <web profile></code> to load the specified web profile. Any of the profile parameters can also be passed directly on the commandline as well.
== Installer ==
The installer should configure Windows to associate *.webapp files with WebRunner. This means that when you double-click or launch a *.webapp file, WebRunner is launched and automatically opens the web application.
== Installs ==
Install (Windows): [http://starkravingfinkle.org/projects/webrunner/webrunner-0.5-win32.exe webrunner-0.5-win32.exe] (5 MB)<br>
Install (Mac): [http://starkravingfinkle.org/projects/webrunner/webrunner-0.5-mac.dmg webrunner-0.5-mac.dmg] (18MB)<br>
Install (Linux): [http://starkravingfinkle.org/projects/webrunner/webrunner-0.5-linux webrunner-0.5-linux] (7MB)<br>
Archive: [http://starkravingfinkle.org/projects/webrunner/webrunner-0.5.tar.gz webrunner-0.5.tar.gz] (10MB)<br>
Source: [http://starkravingfinkle.org/projects/webrunner/webrunner-0.5-src.zip webrunner-0.5-src.zip]<br>
Profiles: [http://starkravingfinkle.org/projects/webrunner/gmail.webapp gmail.webapp], [http://starkravingfinkle.org/projects/webrunner/gcalendar.webapp gcalendar.webapp], [http://starkravingfinkle.org/projects/webrunner/gdocs.webapp gdocs.webapp] & [http://starkravingfinkle.org/projects/webrunner/groups.webapp groups.webapp]
== Blog Posts ==
[http://starkravingfinkle.org/blog/2006/11/site-specific-browers/ Site Specific Browsers]<br>
[http://starkravingfinkle.org/blog/2007/03/site-specific-browser-webrunner/ WebRunner]<br>
[http://starkravingfinkle.org/blog/2007/03/site-specific-browser-using-webrunner/ Using WebRunner]<br>
[http://starkravingfinkle.org/blog/2007/06/webrunner-gears-offline-desktop-reader/ WebRunner + Gears = Offline Desktop Reader]<br>
[http://starkravingfinkle.org/blog/2007/07/webrunner-05-now-with-more-power/ WebRunner 0.5]<br>
[http://starkravingfinkle.org/blog/2007/07/webrunner-05-mac-support/ WebRunner 0.5 - Mac Support]<br>
[http://starkravingfinkle.org/blog/2007/07/webrunner-05-linux-install/ WebRunner 0.5 - Linux Install]<br>
