Forum Discussion

AlexB's avatar
AlexB
Iron Contributor
Dec 31, 2019

Install site as an app with tabs functionality

Hi everyone, Microsoft Edge Insider is taking good shape so far and I was hoping the Install site as an app feature could be further improved. As I use lots of web apps like Linkedin, Gmail, Facebook Messenger and others, if you click on any link, it will open a tab on the main Edge browser instead of inside the site app. This should at least have a toggle so for example on Linkedin if I want to open a few more profiles I can do that without having now to switch between my Linkedin site app and regular Edge browsing session.

 

Could the Open site as an app be further improved? I believe it will benefit a lot of people.

 

List of Site apps I use at the moment

  1. Sharepoint
  2. Outlook
  3. Zoho CRM
  4. Quotientapp
  5. Linkedin
  6. Facebook Messenger
  7. Whatsapp
  8. Google Contacts
  9. Gmail
  10. Google Messenger
  11. Google photos
site as an app
  • Deleted's avatar
    Deleted
    Jan 03, 2020

    AlexB Thanks for the feedback; we'll pass this on to our Apps team and let you know if they have any additional questions or insights.

     

    Fawkes (they/them)
    Project & Community Manager - Microsoft Edge

     

  • AnttFinska's avatar
    AnttFinska
    Copper Contributor
    Oct 31, 2023
    Seems like site as an app is not on the Edge priority list, this issue is 4 year old now, and nothing has happened?
    • AlexB's avatar
      AlexB
      Iron Contributor
      Oct 31, 2023
      unfortunately not. We now use Dynamics 365, it would have been great to use it as a web app with its own tabs, but we cannot. It is one, or the other, no in between...
  • ibscotty's avatar
    ibscotty
    Copper Contributor
    Jul 18, 2024

    Bump to this topic,

     

    Enabling tabbed browsing would make this feature sooo much better, Im also a D365 user and if I want to look at 2 pages at once instead of having to constantly navigate between them the only option is to open the app twice.

    We should just be able to click a link with middle mouse button to open in a new tab or ctrl+click to open in a new window like with web browsers.

  • AlexB's avatar
    AlexB
    Iron Contributor
    Dec 31, 2019

    It could also give the option to open inside the site app or outside by for example holding shift while clicking on something or another hotkey as when you do now to open a link in a new window.

     

    The that gives the end-user the choice where they want the links to open

    • jnewtay's avatar
      jnewtay
      Copper Contributor
      Jun 16, 2021
       
      AlexB wrote:

      It could also give the option to open inside the site app or outside by for example holding shift while clicking on something or another hotkey as when you do now to open a link in a new window.

       

      The that gives the end-user the choice where they want the links to open

      AlexB Or perhaps this could be determined by the domain of the launched URL?

      If the domain of the clicked link matches the domain of the app, then it opens in a new tab within the app; however if the domain of the clicked link does not match, then it opens in a new tab outside the app (same as current functionality).

      • AlexB's avatar
        AlexB
        Iron Contributor
        Jun 16, 2021

        jnewtay it always open as an external window regardless. I use WPA across so many apps and the behaviour is always the same, if you click on something that should open a new tab, it ends up opening a new browser tab outside the WPA

  • HotCakeX's avatar
    HotCakeX
    MVP
    Dec 31, 2019
    Hi,
    By "open site as an app" do you actually mean "install site as an app" ?

    If not, can you post a screenshot of that option?
    • AlexB's avatar
      AlexB
      Iron Contributor
      Dec 31, 2019

      HotCakeX yes I meant install the site as an app, apologies about my mistake

  • Deleted's avatar
    Deleted
    Jan 03, 2020

    AlexB Thanks for the feedback; we'll pass this on to our Apps team and let you know if they have any additional questions or insights.

     

    Fawkes (they/them)
    Project & Community Manager - Microsoft Edge

     

    • AlexB's avatar
      AlexB
      Iron Contributor
      Jan 04, 2020

      Deleted Cool, I'm glad to see development team here listing to our feedback. You guys are doing a great job with Edge insider, I've already converted a lot of sysadmins in other companies to it after long debates in networking meeting groups 🙂

      • Deleted's avatar
        Deleted
        Jan 06, 2020

        AlexB  We're so happy that you're having such a positive experience! We really love this product and are stoked to hear that you and others are also giving it a try. All of us on the Edge Insider Team,  along with our Devs, love hearing your thoughts, so please keep them coming. 🙂

         

        Fawkes (they/them)
        Project & Community Manager - Microsoft Edge

    • AlexB's avatar
      AlexB
      Iron Contributor
      Jul 19, 2024

      I hope the dev team has this feature on their pipeline, but year it has been nearly 5 years now

  • jmorgannz's avatar
    jmorgannz
    Copper Contributor
    Jul 22, 2020

    Please you have to implement this. I'd consider app functionality broken otherwise!

    At the very least, a link from an "app" should open in it's own browser window sitting on top of the app in the z-order - not randomly pick a browser window you already have open and shoehorn a new tab onto it - it makes no sense.

    • AlexB's avatar
      AlexB
      Iron Contributor
      Aug 21, 2020

      jmorgannz 

       

      I believe it picks up the last used browser window, the same as when you a link when using multiple edge profiesl, it can pick up the last opened (focused) profile or then you can select the default profile to use when opening links

      • jmorgannz's avatar
        jmorgannz
        Copper Contributor
        Aug 21, 2020

        AlexB 

        Hi, 

        Thanks, yes can see that is what it does. I find it quite annoying - and my argument was that it doesn't feel very 'appy'.

        Real apps that fall back on opening browser windows for things are annoying themselves - if we want a website to masquerade as an app itself, it would be nice if it either was tabbed for links opened in it's own domain; or at least if it has to open in another window, make its own browser window rather than picking up the latest browsing session window and using it.

         

        By using the same active browser window to open its extra links, it breaks the app illusion, and mixes the two mental contexts together that the 'Web App' paradigm is designed to seperate.

         

  • johnW-ret's avatar
    johnW-ret
    Copper Contributor
    Aug 16, 2024
    Bump. Even changing "open in new tab" Ctrl + Click functionality to open a new app instance (a new window) would be more manageable than its current behavior of ignoring the app's existence. The current functionality only makes install site as app practical for the simplest of use cases.