Did you know you can make websites act as desktop programs?
I’ve been controlling a bunch of Rapsberry Pis (running “squeezeslave”) through the Logitech Media Server (i.e. squeezebox), and controlling the Logitech Media Server from it’s web interface, http://myserver:9000.
All is well, but it’s sitting in the browser. It’s a wrapped PITA when you’ve got a hundred tabs open and want to change the song. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could easily turn websites into a more persistent desktop app?
Quick search came up with this guide: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2393114,00.asp
Turns out that most browsers have the ability to do so. Chrome seemed the easiest. Go to your website, hit the wrench icon, Tools -> Create Application Shortcut. It’ll ask where you want the icon to sit and that’s it.
You end up with a desktop app that doesn’t have any toolbar or borders. It just kinda looks like a regular app.
Taking a look at the icon shortcut that is created, the command is:
/usr/bin/chromium-browser --app=http://myserver:9000/