Mobile version

Noda

Do you intend on making a mobile version of the site?

It would be really convenient for learning, even if it's just one of those API that converts websites to an application format

neoncube

@Noda Are you on Android or iOS?

@Olaf.Rabbachin recently let me know that on Android, there's a way to pin a site to the home screen, which basically turns it into an app. To do this, open Chrome, go to mylittlewordland.com, open the Chrome menu, and select "Add to Home screen" (like this). The only issue seems to be that the app doesn't like keeping people logged in, so you pretty much have to log in every time you start it (although Chrome will offer to save your username and password, so then you basically just need to click "Login" every time you start the app).

Longer term, I think it'd probably be smart to make a mobile app and charge perhaps $5 for it. That way, people who like using an app could pay and have an app, and people who don't want to pay could continue using the site through their browser 🙂

Noda

neoncube I use Android

Oh, I didn't know that, I'll try it.

That seems like a good idea, that way you can get some monetization out of this work too. 🙂

neoncube

Noda If you try it, let me know how it goes! 🙂

@Olaf.Rabbachin mentioned that when the site is pinned to the home screen like that, you do have to log in every time you use the app, but it'll offer to save your username and password, so I think that shoudn't be too bad. I haven't really experimented with it much, though.

And thanks 🙂 Indeed, it'd be nice to eventually make some money from My Little Word Land, hehe.

Olaf.Rabbachin

Actually I didn't really pin it myself - when I started MLWL in a browser, I got told that there was an app and it let me "install" it from there. I was under the impression that this really was a browser wrapper app, but obviously it isn't.

Now that you are talking about pinning a browser app I checked back on this and yes, this is what I did with the Memrise Community courses. That is, when you pin a browser (-link) to your homescreen, you should see that browser's icon in the lower right corner (on Android), as depicted by the left arrow (screenshot of my languages-folder):

Image description

Also, you'll see the browser icon in TaskManager. However, the MLWL icon is an app-icon without the browser icon, hence this is not a browser app.

Since you, @neoncube seem to be indicating that you never published an app (and I definitely cannot find it on Google Play!), this leaves me sort of flabbergasted as to what might be the reason.

neoncube

Olaf.Rabbachin Hm, that's very interesting!

I just tried, and when I open https://mylittlewordland.com in Chrome and select "Add to Home", Android gives me an "Install" option, but when I open https://community-courses.memrise.com and select "Add to Home", Android gives me two options: "Install" and "Create shortcut". "Create shortcut" shows the Chrome icon over the top of the Memrise icon, and "Install" doesn't.

Very curious 🙂

Olaf.Rabbachin

That's of course a perfect question for AI. Here's what ChatGPT told me:

The difference is caused by the PWA (Progressive Web App) configuration of the sites.

mylittlewordland.com has a valid Web App Manifest (manifest.json) with fields like name, icons, start_url, display: standalone, and a service worker. Chrome recognizes it as an installable PWA. That’s why Android only shows Install.

community-courses.memrise.com also has a manifest and service worker, but Chrome’s heuristics don’t fully classify it as a PWA (likely due to one of these issues):

Missing or invalid display: standalone or display: fullscreen.

Icons not meeting size/format requirements (e.g., no 192px or 512px PNG).

Service worker not serving offline fallback or not registered on the scope.

Site served with mixed content (non-HTTPS assets).

Incomplete manifest (missing start_url or scope).

Because of that, Chrome offers two paths:

Install → use the manifest and treat it as a standalone PWA (if minimally valid).

Create shortcut → simple homescreen bookmark, shows the Chrome badge because it’s not a standalone PWA.

In short:

"Install" comes from PWA manifest + service worker.

"Create shortcut" is fallback if Chrome isn’t fully confident the PWA is installable.

Learning something new every single day. :-)