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Intent to Implement: Web Share API (macOS)

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Hassan Talat

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Jan 4, 2021, 4:56:50 PM1/4/21
to blin...@chromium.org

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Explainer

 

Spec

 

Level 1 support already received a TAG review (https://github.com/w3ctag/design-reviews/issues/170, https://github.com/w3ctag/design-reviews/issues/179) and Level 2 was discussed in the TAG review for Share Target (https://github.com/w3ctag/design-reviews/issues/221).

 

Summary

Web Share is an API set for sharing data (text, URLs, files) from a web app (to which the data is already available) to an app of the user's choosing. This has already been implemented/shipped in Chromium for Android and has been implemented/shipped in Edge for Windows. The Windows and Chrome OS implementation of these APIs will be shipped in Chromium 89.

 

This implementation is intended to add macOS implementation for these APIs in Chromium and will include support for both Level 1 & 2.


Motivation

A website might like their users to be able to share their pictures and other files through social media, email, chat, etc. Since it will be soon shipped to more platforms like ChromeOS & Windows, this implementation will extend the support to include macOS to better allow websites to take advantage of this functionality .

 

Risks

 

     Interoperability and Compatibility

     Edge: Shipped Level 1 and 2 on Windows.

     Firefox: Partially implemented and continuing development (bug, bug)

     Safari: Shipped Level 1 support (bug) and continuing development of Level 2 support (bug)

     Web / Framework developers: The ability to share images and files has been a consistent request.

 

     See also the Intent to Implement: Web Share API (Windows & Chrome OS)   discussion: https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/g/blink-dev/c/PZkIB8wBTwQ/m/qfX1At8UAgAJ

 

     See also the Intent to Implement: Web Share API (Android) discussion: https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!msg/blink-dev/1BOhy5av8MQ/OPPt76oZCQAJ

 

     See also the Intent to Implement: Web Share Level 2 (Android) discussion: https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#%21msg/blink-dev/AiKgWvv3cq0/xAsjfSfMDQAJ

 

     Ergonomics

     The Web Share Target API complements this API. Web applications can register to receive share requests. It is shipped in Chrome for Android (https://web.dev/web-share-target/) and implemented (not shipped) in Edge for Windows.

    Activation
    The API is straightforward and feature detectable, developers should be able to make use of it immediately, without degrading the experience of users running older browsers.


Debuggability
No DevTools changes are required.


Will this feature be supported on all six Blink platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, Chrome OS, Android, and Android WebView)?
No. This feature is already implemented on Android and soon be shipped in Windows and Chrome OS. Web Share has to be specifically implemented for each platform because it is an OS interop mechanism.

 
Link to entry on the feature dashboard

Requesting approval to ship?
No

Balazs Engedy

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Jan 12, 2021, 10:20:22 AM1/12/21
to blink-dev, Hassan Talat
Hassan, just to clarify, are you requesting approval to experiment (in an origin trial), or merely to prototype (as per the latest terminology [1])? If the former, could you please add mocks/screenshots depicting what the share target selection UX flow looks like on macOS?

Hassan Talat

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Jan 13, 2021, 3:07:27 PM1/13/21
to blink-dev, Balazs Engedy, Hassan Talat
Balazs, This is closer to prototyping, but not exactly the typical case. It will all be happening behind a feature flag and there will be an intent to ship once it is ready. This is a browser side implementation of an already existing feature in other platforms (like android, windows & chromeOS) but now for macOS. So it wont be changing any web exposed APIs.

However, we have started UX review process for macOS implementation here (screenshot included): [1]. The UI itself is controlled by the os and the review is mostly around the placement of it.

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