Ubuntu

Integrate Web apps (and browsing) into Unity/Compiz such that Web browsing and window management are the same

Registered by Kenny Strawn on 2012-01-14

While I have a Chromebook personally (in addition to my home-built desktop computer with Ubuntu 12.04 Alpha 1) and so am kind of used to the whole "cloud" idea, having the Web apps (and Web browser) separated from the native apps can turn people off, as first they have to boot the computer and *then* launch the browser. So it would be nice if the following changes were made to Unity, Compiz, and the Ubuntu Software Center to allow pages and apps across the Web to be integrated into Unity as if they were native:

* Turn the Unity search box into an "Omnibox"-like widget (search or type a URL, and either way it will work)
* Introduce scopes in the Dash for both local searches and Web search engines to allow both local results and Web search results to appear
* Introduce a Compiz WebKit (and also V8) plugin to allow HTML (and JavaScript) code to be rendered inside Compiz windows instead of in browser windows
* Sandbox all HTML Compiz windows to the domain they were launched in, such that clicking any external links inside a window will open a new window
* Introduce icon auto-resizing capability into Unity, such that icons (whose URLs are in the <head> tags of their related Web pages) are resized as layers (in order to be displayed properly in the Unity launcher/Dash) so as not to be blurry.
* Introduce the ability to publish a Web app to the Ubuntu Software Center by right-clicking its Launcher icon, and also include the ability to (if publishing to the Software Center isn't possible) save a shortcut to any Web app to the computer (possibly in the form of a .desktop file in /usr/share/applications) via that same right-click menu.
* Introduce another Compiz plugin for WebGL support, in order to allow WebGL games to be run as if they were native.
* Include a Flash plugin wrapper (also as a Compiz plugin), for compatibility purposes ONLY.

Hopefully this will be able to be integrated into the 12.04 release cycle, but if not, 12.10 will work just as well.