What does "Add to Home Screen" button do?

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I just downloaded SC for offline use using Chrome in Windows 10 and there was a button that said “Add to Home Screen”

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When I click on it, Chrome appears to open SC in a new window that looks a little different from normal. I’ve closed that window.
What did clicking on that actually do?
I just downloaded SC for offline use on Chrome on Android, but there was no “Add to Home Screen” button.

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It installs a Progressive Web App (PWA) that should technically allow for (limited) offline use of this Discourse forum and other goodies (similar to SuttaCentral PWA), more details here:

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Are you sure this has anything to do with the Discourse website?

OK, I just found SuttaCentral in the list of newly added programs on my Windows 10 laptop. But to be clear, I don’t think it added SC to my homescreen because there is no such thing in Windows 10. There is in android, but that button didn’t appear when viewing SC in chrome on android.

The language of the button should probably be changed since it doesn’t seem to do what it claims. At least not on my device.

Side question… I heard Chrome was doing away with its app store. Is that true and will it affect SC PWA?

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You are quite right, I was mixing them up, but it is actually the same principle behind both.

This is new functionality of Chrome with the Windows support for PWA’s mixed in, and PWA apps actually have the same status as other installed apps and show up in the Applications menu on Windows just as they do in Android. And you can always pin their shortcut to the Start menu too.

Try this with the D&D forum and be amazed too (works both in Chrome on Windows and Android) :smile:

Edit: Oops, I spoke too soon: it seems that the D&D Discourse version is too old to support this on Windows, but it works on Android.

We are on version 2.3.0.beta5 here and the latest version is 2.4.0.beta6, maybe it is time for an update?

Note: while Discourse builds are labeled “beta” they are actually the most stable builds and are more current with features and security fixes than “stable” releases (but with an occasional bug too, which is fixed extra quick by the amazing Discourse team.

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@Aminah, can you help?

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Yes, we should update Discourse, @blake?

It is a little unpredictable, given the complexities of OS, browser, version, settings, etc. Also as a new technology things evolve so quickly. We’ll review it at some point, maybe next year, and see how we can improve it.

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