Signal-desktop: Add ability to open Signal-Desktop in a tab

[itadventurer]

I find it quite annoying, that I have to open Signal in a new window and do not have the possibility to just open it in another tab and thus using my normal workflow for working in my Browser.

Is it possible to add the possibility that Signal can be opened just in a normal tab?

[cbarnsdale]

Agreed, this would be fantastic.

[evantd]

I didn't know I wanted this until you suggested it. Now I just wish GitHub had a way to +1 an issue without commenting.

[liliakai]

Running inside a browser tab is an ability afforded easily to chrome extensions, but not to packaged apps. This project started as an extension and made the switch to a packaged app, partly because that UX feels more like a native desktop app, rather than a web app.

[cbarnsdale]

Perhaps there's a way to make Signal show up persistently as an icon in the notification area?

[jj777]

If you look at the alternatives, Facebook Messenger (messenger.com), WhatsApp Web and even Skype Web, they're all browser tab based. It's much easier to manage those as a pinned tab, then have to deal with a separate window to manage.

When I first installed it today, took me a little while to figure out how to even re-open Signal Messenger after I closed it.

[karelbilek]

I don't want to talk for Signal guys, but in my opinion, applications cannot be really securely served from an online server. Facebook Messenger etc. give up on security (they are in direct opposition of it, in fact) so they don't care, but Signal messenger on a website is not a good idea.

I am not sure if packaged apps can have tabs. What could be added, I guess, is an icon in Chrome on the right of an address. I personally find those icons quite annoying though.

[ghost]

I agree there should be an icon next to the address bar. Especially since with Chromium on Linux there's no other icon on any OS bar.

[liliakai]

That sort of icon is called a "browser action" and, much like running in a tab, is an API exposed to extensions but not packaged apps.

[ghost]

Oh I see. Then I guess I would suggest to go back to the extension model, I think it's easier and closer to what users are used to. UX-wise I don't see big benefits in using a packaged app, but I'm no developer so it's up to you

[karelbilek]

Oh, apps can't have browser actions, right.
Hm, annoying. All right then.

[lenix]

:+1: for tab :)

[dkerlee]

thumbs up for tab

[smichel17]

FYI you can +1 an issue without commenting by adding a thumbs up reaction.

[econic]

I have 5 pinned tabs with regularly used web apps and would definitely like to add signal to it (as i did with facebook and whatsapp web).
Nice for people who want a separate link in the tray, okay, but I don't get the point in forcing the user to use an app instead of extension/web url/whatever. In the end, it's just the frame around the client.
Regardless of what you think is "best for the user": package your client in an app + an extension and make it accessible via url and you're done.

[vphantom]

Even more important than the mere convenience factor: Google is deprecating the Chrome application launcher on Windows, Mac OS and Linux. This normal tab is therefore the only way going forwards. See https://blog.chromium.org/2016/03/retiring-chrome-app-launcher.html

I know that this is a small team, but given the above it seems to me that the issue should be prioritized after bugs, but before other feature improvements.

[Trolldemorted]

no, the normal tab is not the only way going forward - e.g. electron is a way better platform than chrome tabs.

[vphantom]

To each his own, but I think Electron would be a significant step in the wrong direction.

Right now Signal Desktop seems to be a small step away from being a regular web-based application. Electron would make it a stand-alone application, which is much heavier for the user to install and keep up to date (web applications requiring no maintenance other than keeping a bookmark).

To clarify, I think that Signal ought to compete in simplicity with Telegram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp Web and such.

[econic]

Before this discussion is going into two opposing opinions and a potential bashing, I'd like to hear the Signal team and their estimate on how harmful it is for Signal to

• _not_ offer a browser-based client
• _not_ offer a "desktop" client

and what the estimated workload is to adjust the current client to such an environment.
In the end I totally don't care what client you use (which should be just the same for all of you) - I just know that I personally prefer the web client.

[ideologysec]

Going to comment because this was the closest issue I found to one of my particular needs: running Signal Desktop as a standalone app. I hear the utility of having it open in a tab, but for folks who are using things like Subgraph or Qubes, having a standalone app with a signature that can be independently verified would be a huge boon, in addition to being able to run it in a separate (domain-colored) window.

There are ways to create your own using the electron or nw.js frameworks (see e.g. https://timtaubert.de/blog/2016/01/build-your-own-signal-desktop/), but that isn't secure at all and basically a hack. I'd love to see it developed officially though.

[malcolmredheron]

In my experience packaged apps in Chrome provide a very strange experience. In the dock and the command-tab UI they show up as separate apps but (a) their windows also show up in Chrome's Window menu and when using command-~ to cycle through windows in Chrome and (b) these windows don't show up when extensions use the Tab API to work with tabs. These all seem like issues with Chrome and they apply to all packaged apps, but the result is that I dislike using Signal on the desktop and would prefer (from best to worst) I normal tab, an extension like Google Hangouts or a separate app.

[ekimekim]

If it's not possible to have the app in a tab without needing to host it somewhere, could we maybe get some easy way to run the "app server" as a local daemon so we can have a tab pointed at localhost? The inability to have it in a tab means I basically just don't run signal, and miss messages.

[ideologysec]

One of the other benefits to running Signal in a tab is that it would integrate with Rambox or Franz - but based on how those work Signal would end up needed to be a hosted webapp somewhere. (so a localhost server would be a good workaround, I suppose).

[dln]

From a privacy standpoint, having Signal open in a tab makes much more sense than having a separate , dedicated, window as well.

[defaude]

Signal + Rambox = <3

Please please pretty please! :)

[Trolldemorted]

a localhost server would be a rather ridiculous workaround imho.

if you want signal support for rambox, you should rather ask for it at rambox' issue tracker.

[defaude]

And the folks at rambox tell us we have to go here because of reasons.

[Trolldemorted]

so they are asking ows to change their software so that they can copy/paste it into their own client instead of doing it themselves?

[defaude]

Nope, I think the general idea is that it would be cool if Signal Desktop was not a extension-based thing but a "pure" web app instead (which would make inclusion in tools like Franz, Rambox etc. easier).

[boktai1000]

I would prefer an Extension of an App, but I like the way that Authy has solved this issue - they have an Extension that simply launches the App. To be honest, I would be fine with this.

[nrizzio]

Isn't this issue basically obsolete since the app is transitioning to Electron?

[graymattrr]

Any suggestions for Chrome OS users who would like to continue using Signal-desktop? I can't seem to find a solution now that the apps have been migrated.

[vphantom]

@graymattrr From https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-Desktop/issues/871#issuecomment-271008417 it appears that ChromeOS support has been officially dropped. Not enough resources to support more than Windows/OSX/Linux. This unfortunately confines me to stick to Telegram, but I understand their predicament. Might be worth a crowdfunding attempt, though.

[scottnonnenberg]

And with that, I think this issue is officially done.