How to Turn a Website Into a Linux Desktop App Using Nativefier

You in all probability go to a explicit web site a number of instances a day whereas working. Doing so requires you to open a browser, kind within the URL, after which the web site lastly hundreds. What if you happen to may flip the web site into an app that you would be able to launch out of your Linux desktop by simply double-clicking?

As it seems, you’ll be able to create a standalone Linux app for a web site utilizing a command-line utility known as Nativefier. Here’s how to try this.

How to Install Nativefier on Linux

First, you want to set up NPM and Nativefier in your system. To set up NPM, take a look at our detailed information on putting in NPM on Linux.

With NPM configured, now it is time to set up Nativefier. To accomplish that, launch the terminal and challenge the next command:

npm set up -g nativefier

The -g flag stands for world and instructions NPM to set up the bundle globally.

If your Linux distro helps snap, you will get the Nativefier snap bundle from the Snap Store utilizing:

sudo snap set up nativefier

Make certain you’ve got snap put in in your system earlier than working the above command. If not, you’ll be able to refer to our information on putting in snap on Linux.

Arch customers can obtain Nativefier from the Arch User Repository utilizing Yay:

yay -S nodejs-nativefier

The snap and AUR repositories aren’t recurrently maintained, so it is beneficial you put in Nativefier utilizing NPM.

Turning Websites Into Desktop Linux Apps

Using Nativefier is straightforward. To create a desktop app for a web site, use the next command syntax:

nativefier "http://www.example.com"

By default, Nativefier will routinely assign an app title to the web site. If you need your app to have a customized title, you’ll be able to specify the identical utilizing the –name flag.

nativefier --name "Example Linux App" "www.example.com"

Nativefier will create a folder containing all of the recordsdata crucial for the app. To get to the app file, use the cd command to navigate to the newly-created listing:

cd appdirname/

Nativefier routinely assigns execute permissions to the generated app file, so you do not have to. You can merely launch the executable utilizing the next command syntax:

./appname

To get command-line assist associated to the utility, kind:

nativefier --help

Why Turn Websites Into Desktop Apps?

Not everybody may want to create a desktop app for web sites that they go to. But for individuals who have to often browse sure web sites, even a few further clicks will be a hindrance within the work. Therefore, to hold your productiveness stage excessive and be certain that you do not repeat the identical motion time and again, turning web sites into desktop apps will be useful.

It’s the identical as establishing hotkeys for particular operations or creating new shell aliases for lengthier instructions on Linux. All in all, having an app you’ll be able to launch straight from the desktop is handy and might often prevent a few clicks. And in the long term, that is a lot of saved time.

Linux Is a Lot Better Than Other OSes

On Linux, you’ll be able to ensure that if you happen to do not like one facet of your system, you’ll be able to change to one other one. If opening your internet browser and trying to find a web site often sounds tedious, you’ll be able to go for the simpler route and create a keyboard shortcut, and even higher, a full-blown desktop app for the web site utilizing Nativefier.

There’s a lot extra you are able to do on Linux although. For instance, you’ll be able to schedule apps to run at sure instances utilizing crontab, create scripts that routinely change your wallpaper primarily based on time, and set up a number of desktop environments on a system. Some duties are simply achieved on different working techniques like Windows, whereas the remaining are unique to the Linux ecosystem.

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