chrome/common/extensions/docs/templates/articles/about_apps.html

   1 <meta name="doc-family" content="apps">
   2 <h1 id="what">What Are Chrome Apps?</h1>
   3
   4 <p>Chrome Apps let you use HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript to deliver an experience
   5 comparable to a native application.</p>
   6
   7 <div class="video-container">
   8   <iframe title="YouTube video player" width="610" height="380"
   9   src="//www.youtube.com/embed/lBUGTVIJVfM" frameborder="0"
  10   allowfullscreen></iframe>
  11 </div>
  12
  13 <h2 id="why-build">Why build a Chrome App?</h2>
  14
  15 <p>By building a Chrome App, as opposed to going with a traditional web
  16 app or a native mobile app, you expand your potential audience and extend your
  17 development capability.
  18 </p>
  19
  20 <h3 id="expand">Expand your potential audience</h3>
  21
  22 <p>When you write a Chrome App, as opposed to an app that runs natively on a
  23 particular operating system, you immediately make your app available to a much
  24 wider audience.</p>
  25
  26 <strong>To any desktop</strong>
  27
  28 <p>Instead of writing and maintaining separate applications for Windows, OS X
  29 and Linux, you can write a single application that runs anywhere Chrome
  30 runs. This includes Windows, Linux, and OS X.</p>
  31
  32 <strong>To mobile devices [via Cordova]</strong>
  33
  34 <p>Using <a href="apps/chrome_apps_on_mobile">Chrome
  35 Apps for Mobile</a> (MCA), you can deploy your applications to mobile and target
  36 hardware features only available on Android and IOS platforms. </p>
  37
  38 <strong>And of course, to a Chromebook</strong>
  39
  40 <p>Writing a Chrome App is the ONLY way to have your app installed on a
  41 Chromebook. Chromebooks are appealing, inexpensive, low maintenance devices
  42 that provide a full web experience.</p>
  43
  44 <h3 id="extend">Extend your development capability</h3>
  45
  46 <p>You might be thinking, “If I write a standard web application, I can run it
  47 on any platform that has a web browser.” Of course, this is absolutely right,
  48 but remember that Chrome Apps extend your development capacity beyond what you
  49 can do with traditional web apps:</p>
  50
  51 <ul>
  52   <li>Chrome Apps can integrate seamlessly into the desktop and look
  53   more like desktop applications than traditional web apps.</li>
  54   <li>Chrome Apps for Desktop have no omnibox (address bar) and tab strip like
  55   normal browser-based apps, because like native desktop apps, they don’t live
  56   in a browser.</li>
  57   <li>The Chrome App Launcher makes it easy for users to find and start
  58   your Chrome App.</li>
  59   <li>OS X users can use the integrated spotlight search to find and start your
  60   app.</li>
  61   <li>Chrome Apps for Desktop can access the host computer’s file system and
  62   make use of hardware features (like USB, Bluetooth and attached human
  63   interface devices).</li>
  64 </ul>
  65
  66 <p>The best way to see what Chrome Apps look like is to
  67 <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/apps?_feature=chromeapp">
  68 install some</a>.</p>
  69
  70 <h2 id="who">Who should build Chrome Apps?</h2>
  71
  72 <p>Everyone! But some sectors have a special interest in Chrome Apps. </p>
  73
  74 <strong>Device manufacturers</strong>
  75
  76 </p>The cross platform nature of Chrome Apps makes writing device drivers less
  77 painful. A device manufacturer only needs to write one application for
  78 configuring their device and it will run on any device.</p>
  79
  80 <strong>Educators</strong>
  81
  82 <p>Chromebooks are an inexpensive, low-maintenance option for bringing laptops
  83 into every classroom. Chrome Apps make teaching easy with easy to install
  84 applications that run natively on Chromebooks. For example:</p>
  85
  86 <ul>
  87     <li><a href="http://www.google.com/edu/classroom">Google Classroom</a></li>
  88     <li><a href="http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2014/08/more-teaching-less-tech-ing-google.html">More
  89     Teaching, Less Tech-ing</a></li>
  90 </ul>
  91
  92 <strong>Health care providers</strong>
  93
  94 <p>One pediatric service has so far
  95 <a href="http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2013/12/pediatric-home-service-puts-patient.html">saved
  96   tens of thousands of dollars</a> using Chrome Apps on Chromebooks.</p>
  97
  98 <h2 id="more">Chrome Dev Editor</h2>
  99
 100 <p>Use the full featured IDE in
 101 the <a href="https://github.com/dart-lang/chromedeveditor">Chrome Dev
 102 Editor</a>.</p>
 103
 104 <div class="video-container">
 105   <iframe title="YouTube video player" width="610" height="380"
 106   src="//www.youtube.com/embed/NNLnTz6yIc4" frameborder="0"
 107   allowfullscreen></iframe>
 108 </div>
 109
 110 <p class="backtotop"><a href="#top">Back to top</a></p>