Ubuntu WebApps is the latest killer feature developed for Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quentzal. With Ubuntu WebApps websites like Gmail, Grooveshark, Last.fm, Facebook, Google Docs and many more are integrated with Ubuntu desktop. These webapps are fully integrated with Unity HUD, Sound & Messaging notifications menu and Unity Quicklists support.
With these latest webapps you can have your web experience integrated into your desktop.
Interesting Usage Examples
WebApps can be used in variety of interesting ways, possibilities are endless
- Latest news notifications from BBC into messaging menu
- Facebook notifications in messaging menu
- Grooveshark integrated with sound menu
- Quicklists for Gmail, Google Doc etc.
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Through system center (Ubuntu Control Center) many webapps online accounts like Facebook, Google (including Docs, Gmail, Google+, Picasa and YouTube), Flickr, Twitter, Foursquare and Identi.ca are directly controlled.
Supported Websites and Services
Although Ubuntu webapps are currently in initial development stage but number of supported websites are promising. Currently Ubuntu WebApps supports following websites.
News
- BBC News
- CNN News
- Yahoo! News
- Google News
- Yandex News
- Google Reader
- GMail
- Yahoo! Mail
- Yandex Mail
- QQ Mail
- Windows Live Mail
- Mail RU
Social Networking
- Google+
- VK.com
- YouTube
- Tumblr
Office
- Google Docs
- Google Calendar
Music
- Libre.fm
- Last.fm
- Pandora
- Grooveshark
- Hulu Player
- Yandex Music
Games
- Cut the Rope
- Angry Birds
- Lord of Ultima
- Command and Conquer: Tiberium Alliances
Other
- Launchpad
- WordPress.com
- Amazon
- Amazon Cloud reader
- Subway IRC
More 30+ websites will be supported in future. I will be really interested to see plugins for WordPress, Joomla and Drupal to support and control Ubuntu WebApps.
Supported Browsers
Currently only Firefox and Chrome are supported for Ubuntu WebApps.
Install WebApps on Ubuntu 12.04
Ubuntu WebApps will land shortly in Alpha version of Ubuntu 12.10. You can install WebApps in Ubuntu 12.04 via following commands.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webapps/preview sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install unity-webapps-preview
Make sure that you currently don’t have Unity modified through Unity Revamped or similar package. Also Note that this PPA in addition to WebApps installs new lenses for Google Docs & Flickr.
Using Ubuntu WebApps
After installing Ubuntu WebApps logout and login for changes to take place. Now when you will visit Ubuntu WebApps compatible website you will be asked whether you want to integrate website with Ubuntu or not.
Uninstall Ubuntu WebApps
You may encounter problems with Ubuntu WebApps as they are currently into development stage, to uninstall Ubuntu WebApps you can purge PPA via following commands.
sudo apt-get install ppa-purge sudo ppa-purge ppa:webapps/preview sudo apt-get remove gnome-control-center-signon signond signon-keyring-extension signon-plugin-oauth2 signon-ui libunity-webapps-chromium unity-chromium-extension unity-lens-gdocs unity-lens-photo unity-scope-flickr xul-ext-webaccounts xul-ext-unity xul-ext-websites-integration