A simple chrome web app

To create a chrome web app follow the below steps:

1. Create a new folder.

2. Have an icon from findicons.com and save the icon (PNG format one in the above folder).

3. Create a new text file and copy paste the below (the below sample creates a chrome web app to launch this blog):

{
"name": "Watsh's Blog",
"version": "1.0",
"manifest_version": 2,
"description": "Launcher for Watsh Rajneesh's blog",
"icons": { "128": "gnome_blog.png" },
"app": {
"urls": [
"http://rwatsh.blogspot.com"
],
"launch": {
"web_url": "http://rwatsh.blogspot.com"
}
}
}

The highlighted parts above can be changed to create your own chrome web app.

4. Save the above file with the name “manifest.json” in the same folder we created above. The complete manifest file info is found here.

5. Now to install it in chrome browser, select the settings icon “wrench” on the top right hand corner of your chrome browser and select Tools > Settings > Extensions and check the “Develolper mode” check box. Then click on the “Load unpacked extension” and select the folder we created above which contains the icon and the manifest files.

6. That’s it. Your web app is installed and available in chrome.

The above tutorial is based on this nice tutorial. The only change I have done above is to port the manifest.json to comply with manifest file version 2.