Chrome packaged apps pump up Web apps with new abilities

With Chrome packaged apps, Google supplies new tools to let programmers control standalone window characteristics.

(Credit: Google)

Google has taken a new step to significantly expand what Web apps can do -- and thus also lend new muscle to its Chrome browser, Chrome OS browser-based operating system, and Chrome Web Store for finding and buying Web apps.

This week, Google released a new developer version of Chrome 22 that by default enables a technology called Chrome packaged apps.

This foundation is designed to expand what Web apps can do by giving them the standalone look of a native personal-computer app and some native-app privileges that Web apps ordinarily wouldn't have. They load from a computer's storage system, not the network, and work offline by default, but they're built with the same programming techniques as ordinary Web apps: HTML for content, CSS for formatting and effects, and JavaScript for the brains of the operation.

"Packaged apps will no longer be tied to the browser," said Chrome team member Erik Kay in a video about Chrome packaged apps. "Rather than running as a tab inside of Chrome, packaged apps can be launched from outside of Chrome, have their own top-level windows, and generally behave like first-class ... [Read more]