Microsoft Edge was recently updated for Insiders running Canary builds of the browser, and Microsoft has now highlighted one of the big changes in the latest release. Currently being tested with a subset of Microsoft Edge Canary users is a new hub for Progressive Web Apps (PWA), where users can manage the web apps they’ve installed on their PC.
The page itself isn’t new, but it’s much more user-friendly now, and everything is easier to understand and get to. The apps you currently have installed are displayed in a grid format with large icons to make them easy to identify and spot quickly. Each 0f the apps also now includes buttons with shortcuts to open the app or see details about it, in addition to an ellipsis menu allowing you to pin an app to Start or the taskbar, as well as setting the app to run when your PC starts.
Image: Microsoft
These capabilities themselves aren’t new, but the previous page didn’t make many of them apparent. You’d have to right-click an app to see any options besides launching or removing the app. Plus, if you installed a lot of PWAs, you might have a hard time finding it in the list format that’s currently used. Overall, the new design for the PWA hub in Microsoft Edge is far more understandable at a glance.
However, you can change back to the list view if you find that more efficient. You can also sort your apps in a few different ways, such as alphabetically, installation date, or when you last used them. Before, apps would just be listed in the order you installed them.
Another big change is a details page that’s now available for each app. Each app now has its own page where you can see information about its permissions, shortcuts to cookies being used by the site, and information about trackers on the site. You can also pin the app, set it to auto-start, or uninstall it from this page.
Image: Microsoft
Making PWAs easier to manage is another step towards increasing their adoption. Microsoft has been pushing for PWAs for a few years, and the company wants them to feel at home on Windows. In fact, Windows 11 comes with a few, like Clipchamp, an online video editor that Microsoft recently acquired. We’ll have to wait a while longer for everyone to get access to this new PWA hub, but you can download Microsoft Edge Canary right now if you can’t wait to try it out.
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source https://www.xda-developers.com/microsoft-edge-canary-new-pwa-hub/