Super minimal alternative Webxdc storefront

[Low]

Delta Chat is implementing the ability to link to a custom storefront: Block webxdc Apps for kids - #5 by r10s

I noticed that when I onboarded friends and family to Delta Chat, they really did not like the “app” stuff. I think the app store thing opened and they just saw a ton of irrelevant crap (no offense) that just overwhelmed them.

So I decided to try my hand at a minimal storefront for apps.

GitHub - trosel/webxdc-apps: Alternative webxdc app browser, only for useful,...

Apps

I only included the two apps I made for now, but I want to include more. Probably up to 10. The reality is that there just aren’t that many real, valid use cases for group chat apps. The majority are just solutions seeking problems. I know I want the two apps that I made simply because they I was solving my own problems.

Now, my attempt at a storefront is extremely minimal and curated so as to not overwhelm or confuse anyone. And it tries to be very privacy preserving (which also makes it very performant).

If you are thinking similarly to me, what are the apps that you’d like to see in such a storefront? I know a list and generic poll might be good. Which are the best in terms of UX? Ideally, we’d prioritize apps that are also as small in size as possible.

By the way, I’m not trying to become a king here. With these Delta Chat updates, anyone can make their own curated app storefont page.

[WofWca]

@Low

If you are thinking similarly to me, what are the apps that you’d like to see in such a storefront?

Probably the editor? Either the original or the forked one.

[Low]

Some ideas:

1. Group Event Radar (Brainstorm & Backlog)

A shared dashboard where friends log raw ideas and tentative group plans instead of cluttering the chat stream. Entries are mapped to loose horizons like “This Month” or “Someday” and include quick-tap buttons for upvoting or marking interest. The app filters out conversational noise to show which concepts have the traction and headcount to become real events.

Unsure if this is needed at the same time as the Plan app.

2. Living Itinerary

A chronological dashboard that replaces scheduling text messages with an interactive source of truth for confirmed group events. Each timeline slot contains descriptive notes, status toggles, and native location links that open directly in map apps. Organizers can shift times on the fly, updating the distributed state silently via background payloads without triggering chat notifications.

Group vacations could benefit from this. Unsure if this is needed at the same time as the Plan app.

3. Watch-Party Prediction Engine

A structured fantasy ledger scoped to a single season lifecycle for reality television, sports, and award shows. Users lock in their ballots before showtime to freeze the distributed state and prevent cheating during the broadcast. Once the admin inputs the official results, the engine calculates scores and updates a permanent running leaderboard pinned to the chat.

4. Group Mood Board

A visual gallery layout for aggregating design aesthetics, event inspiration, or apartment decor ideas in a single shared space. Users upload local images, drop color hex codes, or add short text tags that compile into a clean, tile-based collage grid. Group members can leave simple emoji reactions on individual elements, giving the chat a collective snapshot of a style or project direction without spamming the main image feed.

If you’re creating your own culture and aesthetic, this would be a great long-running app. Or for planning events or projects, they get their own mood board app.

5. General Shared Text Editor

@WofWca

Probably the editor? Either the original or the forked one.

Looks like this is the better one, yeah: durian/editor: A webxdc app using yjs to enable collaborative editing in a WYSIWYG manner - Codeberg.org

But the .xdc is 175 KB? Yeesh… Even the original is 150 KB. Seems like these are so heavy mainly because of Yjs and ProseMirror. Swapping ProseMirror for Lexical could reduce size. But I think the main reduction of size would be more apps that have purpose built structure so they don’t need hyper-advanced conflict resolution (Yjs).

6. Shopping List / To Do list

Not sure which one. Webxdc store shows:

• GitHub - MS702/Traero-webxdc: A modern shopping list for the webxdc-platform (Delta Chat) · GitHub
• durian/checklist: A simple collaborative checklist application for WebXDC - Codeberg.org
• hupf/shoppinglist-xdc - Codeberg.org
• webxdc/checklist: A simple collaborative checklist application for WebXDC - Codeberg.org

[Minim]

Wikis. But would it make more sense to tag apps as single- or multi-user, or both?

[Low]

I guess my mood board idea is basically a wiki. I never thought of that lol.

I would personally only include multiplayer apps. I don’t really see a point in using DC “single player”.

[Minim]

Actually, an Instant Commons bot would be really useful for moodboarding.

I can see the point of installing a sandbox app with its own little package manager that installs easy-to-write privacy-preserving single-player games. Mobile Linux needs such an app. It needn’t depend on a chat client, though.

I was thinking the main WebXDC app store could tag apps by number of users, as well as by functionality (currently “Tools” and “Games”). Then it seems like it would be fairly simple for anyone to provide links to filtered sub-“app stores” that only listed some of them, say only listing multiperson tools.

I have found some single person apps that extend the mailclient functionality useful, for tasks like format conversion and user testing.

[ian]

I would like to propose the following as an alternative:

Annotation for webxdc categories and labels

We could add further structured metadata items to the manifest of each app. It could be either stored in the original zip, or separately by the store. The store web app frontend could provide filters for these metadata. Combinations of filters should be invoked by deep linking using the URL fragment (URI anchor). Some of these may be mutually exclusive categories, while others may be overlapping tags. Most of these could be fairly objective, while others would be somewhat subjective (small vs. l…

[Low]

@Low

4. Group Mood Board

A visual gallery layout for aggregating design aesthetics, event inspiration, or apartment decor ideas in a single shared space. Users upload local images, drop color hex codes, or add short text tags that compile into a clean, tile-based collage grid. Group members can leave simple emoji reactions on individual elements, giving the chat a collective snapshot of a style or project direction without spamming the main image feed.

If you’re creating your own culture and aesthetic, this would be a great long-running app. Or for planning events or projects, they get their own mood board app.

Added this to the “store”: Mood Board: Curate a vibe together with your people

[Low]

Added Habit Tracker

I’ll probably have to go through and make sure these all fit together branding-wise. Like two checkmark icons? No good lol.

Thoughts on what might be missing?

I’m hesitant to do like a full wiki. Because the long term data feels fickle. Like if someone joins your chat later, you can’t get that data to them afaik.

[ian]

There’s Feather already:

Idea: port TiddlyWiki to WebXDC [or FeatherWiki, Wiki on a Stick]

This alternative supports multipage and internal links:

And a wiki would be possible that also stored updates to its states iw webxdc updates. If you press resend on the webxdc file, new joiners will receive both the app and all its state updates.

[Low]

@ian

If you press resend on the webxdc file, new joiners will receive both the app and all its state updates.

I tried this before and thought it didn’t work… I’ll test again and see

[Simon]

@Low

But the .xdc is 175 KB? Yeesh…

Most Images and Stickers have more than that, so unless you use delta chat as a frontend over radio (in off-grid areas) or a similar low bandwidth transport it should be fine.

[byte]

@Low

6. Shopping List / To Do list

Not sure which one. Webxdc store shows:

Maybe check out BetterList. I did not like the existing ones and therefore created this one.

Disclaimer: It’s my app.
Edit: Maybe consider adding your apps to the official store?

[Low]

@byte

Maybe check out BetterList. I did not like the existing ones and therefore created this one.

Is there any way to reduce the size of the app? An app like this would be sent many times throughout a convo I would imagine. And based on my own experience, it should be able to be much smaller. Don’t need a CRDT for simultaneous edits for an app like this.

[byte]

I can look into this, but it’s already only ~30 KB. That is 5 to 30 times smaller than your average web/smartphone image and probably negligible. The median app on the Webxdc store is like ~90 KB.

[Low]

@byte

The median app on the Webxdc store is like ~90 KB.

Completely unacceptable honestly.

I think the reason most are in that range is because they needlessly include yjs for CRDT functionality. Not needed for most use cases.

Most apps I made with Claude are 10 to 15kb. The app includes the multiplayer features, so all we’re talking about here is a bit of html and css most of the time!

[byte]

A lot of them also have huge icons that end up increasing the app size a lot. I just reduced the app size from 30 KB to 20 KB by switching to a more optimized PNG.