Windows 8 Pin METAs
Windows 8 allows for adding websites as apps (or maybe "bookmarks" is a better term) to the home screen, much in the vein that iOS allows users to do the same. Like iOS devices, Windows 8 allows users to accomplish this same task using custom META tags embedded within the page HTML:
<meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#FF0000" />
<meta name="msapplication-TileImage" content="/windows8-icon.png" />
The image size should be 144x144 and you'll want to define a custom background color with the META tag above. Tags like these are invaluable -- very little HTML to add but a giant convenience to users. Remember that the easier it is to get to your site, the more likely they will come back often!
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One thing I love doing is duplicating OS functionalities. One of the things your OS allows you to do easily is move from one item to another. Most of the time you're simply trying to get to the next or the previous item.
I wonder if there are HTTP headers that allows to do the same.
How do you actually go about adding the website as an app in windows 8?
Even though we *can* do this… it really bugs me that we have 8 different ways to set this kind of stuff per browser/device.
IMHO, it would have been much better if all browsers used the same “link” “favicon” in PNG/GIF/JPG format… and it had attributes for different size icons (device/browser to choose the best size for its needs)
Instead we have IE searching the at the server root for an icon in *.ico format, special meta tags for iOS, different tags for Windows8, etc. From a *lightweight* mobile perspective… cramming umpteen meta tags in to handle all the potential devices is totally counter productive!
Oh well… I guess this is progress!
why iOS allows users to do the same.
I agree with Stephen, with every other OS and social media site adding their own meta tags it’s bloating up the element.
That should have read head element.