Allow users to select their default action handler

[PaulKinlan]

It would be great if a user could "star" a preferred handler so that they don't keep getting prompted to select an app.

[paddycarver]

I'm working on an application with a few thousand users (currently) and would love to support Web Intents. But I can't until this issue is resolved-- the extra step my users would have to undertake for the sake of Web Intent integration would alienate too many users. The app works because it's lightweight and quick. I notice this hasn't had anything done with it in a few months; is there a reason why? Is it still coming? Is there anything I can do to help move it along?

[PaulKinlan]

I removed the default action because the user experience in the shim was actually worse, for instance you can't open a new window without a click, which means that opening the default app in the small picker..... Good news though, this is just a limitation of the shim, it is up to the User Agent to decide how it implements it natively.

What is your app? Why would the extra click alienate users? How would you suggest we work around it?

[paddycarver]

I'm working on the 2cloud app (http://www.2cloudproject.com) and introducing a web app to complement our Android app. Kind of Chrome to Phone and Phone to Chrome smushed into one, with a couple of twists.

I think part of my problem may be some ignorance about WI. What's the difference between the shim (the JavaScript file) and the User Agent (does this have a special meaning for WI, or is it what I think it is? What UAs support WI right now?)?

The app is going to be accessed a lot of the time through a Chrome extension. I'd like to try and limit the number of Chrome extensions users need to install, so I wanted to support WI and actually send through Web Intents. This would actually help me, because we are an open source project and allow users to host their own instances. This way they could register multiple hosts and choose which to use. It would be a problem, however, for 99% of the users to have to make that extra choice every time they want to send a link. Most wouldn't understand why the window keeps popping up and why they have to click on the only handler available. Just as Android only asks which app should handle an Intent if there is more than one app that CAN handle the intent, I'd like Web Intents to only prompt if there's more than one registered handler.

EDIT: Oops, forgot suggestions for workaround. I guess that would be my suggestion for a workaround. If the user has only one handler registered, don't even open the window.