App Clean-Up June 2022

[jaxoncreed]

Hi All,

As discussed in the last Solid team meeting, I'm cleaning up the Solid App (https://solidproject.org/apps) page.

I've created notes for each app listed here (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1p0opUBL0vRpEdNzDuB8mVy5XTrAbhSdMIzytqn-ef-M/edit?usp=sharing), and I've reached out to each of the developers to alert them of their app's status.

Apps were evaluated based on the criteria listed at the bottom of the apps page (https://solidproject.org/apps). The criteria for an app to be Solid-compatible are:

1. If identifying users is necessary, they must be able to login using their WebID and pointing to the Identity Provider of their choice
2. Data consumed by the app should be fetched from Solid Pods if possible
3. Data generated by the app should be stored in Solid Pods
4. The interaction between the app, pods, and Identity Provider(s) must be compliant with the Solid specification

Based on this, I sorted the apps into 4 categories:

Super Feature
Super Featured apps will be listed at the top of the "Featured" category. Each of these apps is compatible with both the Old authentication standard, the new authentication standard, and the new-new (2022) authentication standard. Developers of super featured apps received the following in their email:

Your app, {App Name}, is fantastic and I’m going to move it into the featured section.

Feature
Featured apps were compatible with at least one authentication standard but not all, and they had a usable UI that would give a decent first-impression for people exploring Solid for the first time. Developers of featured apps received the following in their email:

Your app, {App Name}, may not work on the most recent version of Solid's auth. Upgrading to https://www.npmjs.com/package/@inrupt/solid-client-authn-browser should make it compatible, and you can test to see if it works by logging into the next-gen community server at https://solidweb.me.

Keep
Apps labeled keep were compatible with at least one authentication standard but not all. Developers of "keep" apps received the following in their email:

Your app, {App Name}, may not work on the most recent version of Solid's auth. Upgrading to https://www.npmjs.com/package/@inrupt/solid-client-authn-browser should make it compatible, and you can test to see if it works by logging into the next-gen community server at https://solidweb.me.

Remove
Apps marked as "Remove" either failed to meet the criteria listed on the apps site in some way or the criteria was un-testable. There were a few standard reasons for this, and I was sure to stress that the decision could be disputed before the page was updated.

Some apps didn't have an option to log in with other Solid servers and forced users into a specific server, thus violating rule 1. Developers received this message in their email:

Your app, {App Name}, may be Solid compatible, but there is no option to log into other Solid compatible Pods, so I’m planning on removing it from the list. You can always reach out to me and tell me if I’m wrong in that assessment. I’ll be happy to add it back.

Some apps encountered errors when testing that prevented me from testing rules 2-4. Developers received this message in their email:

In my testing, your app, {App Name}, encountered some problems that prevented me from being able to use it. {Describe the Error} I am planning on removing it from the list. You can always fix the problem or let me know if I’m incorrect. I’ll be glad to add them back.

Some apps were not Solid-Specific apps. They may have been linked-data related but lacked the ability to work with a Solid Pod. Alternatively, a few were simply landing pages for an organization and not apps. Developers received this message in their email:

Your app, {App Name}, doesn’t look like it’s a Solid-specific app, so I’m planning on removing it from the list. You can always reach out to me and tell me if I’m wrong in that assessment. I’ll be happy to add it back.

Some apps were not able to authenticate with any Solid server. Developers received this message in their email:

Your app, {App Name}, encountered an error while authenticating with any Solid server, including legacy ones, so I’m planning on removing it from the list. You can always fix the problem or let me know if I’m incorrect. I’ll be glad to add them back.

Some apps linked to sites that did not load. Developers received this in their email:

Your app, {App Name}, doesn’t seem to load, so I’m planning on removing it from the list. You can always fix the problem or let me know if I’m incorrect. I’ll be glad to add them back.

Some apps did not have a deployed instance and required a user to clone a git repository and host the app locally. This prevented the app from being tested. Though, this criteria was appealed and instead of removing these apps, I'll now add them to a new section called "Self-Installed." Developers received this in their email:

Your app, {App Name}, doesn’t have a deployed instance, so I’m planning on removing it from the list. You can always create a deployed instance and contact me, and I’ll be glad to add them back.

[jaxoncreed]

The following is the current standings for the App Update. I will leave this up for two weeks for comment, then make a pull request to update the document:

Super Feature:

• Solid IDE
• Penny
• Solid File Manager
• Media Kraken
• PodPro
• graphMetrix

Feature:

• Linked Pipes Applications
• OhMyPod!
• Liqid Chat
• drive
• PoPock

Keep:

• WebID Profile editor
• Plume
• Solid Profile Viewer
• Solid Groups
• Tiddlywiki
• Solid authorization Widget
• Solid File Widget
• OEdit
• Hello World
• Golf Companion Assistant
• OpenLink Structured Data Editor (OSDE)
• ODS-Briefcase
• OpenLink Structured Data Sniffer (OSDS)
• URIBurner
• OpenLink Smart Data Bot (OSDB)
• OpenLink YouID
• Solid Geolocation Challenge Entries
• Solid Chat Challenge Student Projects
• Dokieli
• Solid LBS
• Taisukef
• Notepod
• Poddit
• Spoggy

Self-Install Category

• KNoodle
• Solid Signup app
• Inbox
• Solid Weather
• Solid Calendar
• Solid Health
• SolidVC
• Assemblage

Remove

• Solidbase Site doesn't load
• Warp Not a Solid app
• Contacts Site doesn't load
• Darcy Not a Solid App
• Solidarity Propertly logs in but when attempting to send a message the error: TypeError: b is undefined is given
• Holon Tabs break after clicking one of them
• Twee-Fi Uncaught ReferenceError: $rdf is not defined when you click submit
• File Extractor Encounters an Error when trying to extract the file
• File Extractor for Pods Site does not load
• Form Integration Redirects to a different site
• Friend Requests Exploration Removed at the request of Inrupt
• SNS Is not a Solid App
• Firefly-iii not a Solid App
• Solid Shell Not an App
• SPARQL Fiddle Can't log into a Pod
• OChat Site errors
• Mark Book Site does not load
• Mysilio Garden Requires the user to use a specific Pod host
• Solid Focus Can't create a workspace "o is null" and removed at the request of the creator
• Linked Beer Searching beers does not work.
• Solid Chess Removed by the request of the creator
• Tadanime Removed by the request of the creator
• Solid RSS Not a usable app
• RiseFor Mobilisation Site does not load
• LongChat Error: Error recording your partipation: Exception in update: Error: Update: Can't make changes in uneditable https://solidos.solidcommunity.net/Team/SolidOs%20team%20chat/index.ttl
• Snap Site does not load
• Solid Notify Site does not load
• Launcher Exploration Removed by the request of the creator

[jaxoncreed]

The new apps were merged in with #727