How to Make Chrome Apps That Are Bookmarks
Google Chrome supports Web apps, installable applications that appear on users’ new tab pages. Some apps contain their own, extension-style code that runs on users’ computers, but some are little more than bookmarks that load a website when clicked. These bookmark-style apps are known as hosted apps. You can make a hosted app for a website by writing a short text file, creating a small icon and packaging them together. You can upload your app to the Chrome Web Store or package it and use it yourself.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Open a text editor application, such as Notepad.
-
2
Copy and paste the following code into the text editor window:
{
"name": "Application Name",
"description": “Perform an action",
"version": "1",
"app": {
"urls": [
"*://example.com/",
],
"launch": {
"web_url": "http://example.com/start.htm"
}
},
"icons": {
"128": "icon.png"
},
} -
-
3
Replace “Application Name” with the name of your Chrome app, including quotation marks around the name. This name appears beneath the app’s icon on the new tab page.
-
4
Replace “Description” with a description for your application, including quotation marks around the description.
-
5
Replace “*://example.com/” with the path of your Web app’s server, including the quotation marks around the path. For example, if your Web app uses “app.example.com,” you can type “*://app.example.com/” as the path.
-
6
Replace the “http://example.com/start.htm” with the address of the Web page to load when a user clicks the Web app’s icon, including the quotation marks around the address.
-
7
Save the file with the file name “manifest.json.” If your text editor application adds “.txt” after the file name, remove the “.txt” by renaming the file from Windows Explorer or another file manager.
-
8
Create a 128-pixel icon in portable network graphics format for your app and save it as “icon.png.”
-
9
Create a folder with the name of your app and place the ‘manifest.json” and “icon.png” files inside it.
-
10
Right-click the folder, point to “Send to” and click “Compressed (Zipped) Folder” to create a zip file. You can upload the zip file to the Chrome Web Store. If you want to run the app without uploading it to the Web store, you can package it by clicking the “Wrench” menu in Chrome, pointing to “Tools,” selecting “Extension,” clicking the “Developer Mode” checkbox, clicking “Pack Extension” and providing the location of your app’s folder. You can install the created ".crx," or Chrome extension, file yourself or give it to other users.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
You can test your app before uploading or packing it by clicking the “Load Unpacked Extension” button that appears at the top of the Extensions page when the “Developer Mode” checkbox is enabled.
