Linux Mint provides a little tool called Web Apps. This tool allows a web site to be sandboxed into a separate window, making a website look like an app.
This can be handy for a site like Google Messages for using phone SMSes on the PC, allowing this to be shown in its own distinct window rather than just another browser tab. Another example would be Clockify which, while a native Debian package is available, isn’t in standard package repositories and may have dependencies that aren’t installed on the system.
Web Apps can be installed on any Debian/Ubuntu based distro. To install the app, run the commands
# add the repository
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kelebek333/mint-tools
# update the list of packages
sudo apt-get update
# install the Web Apps package
sudo apt-get install webapp-manager -yWith Web Apps installed, a new app can be configured through the user interface.
Open Web Apps and click the + icon at the bottom to add a new app. Type the name, address, choose a category for the item in the applications menu, choose the browser (Chrome, Firefox), and for a nice app icon, click on the “find icons online” button next to the address.
The navigation bar may be handy for some apps as well. Once set, click OK and then a new icon will appear in the main applications menu. This icon can be pinned to a dock, etc.
