Franz integration
I am really enjoying an open source desktop app called Franz, which I use to wrap up all my messengers into one place. Somehow feels much less noisy & distracting compared to having desktop/ or web apps open for each of: FB Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Slack & Discord.
I think it is basically just an Electron browser that loads each web app into a nice little tab that is easy to switch on and off.
I had an idle wondering: would it be possible to make a Franz plugin so I can have my Loomio inbox alongside all my other messengers?
No idea how much work is involved, the docs make it sound easy, so I'm just dropping this here in case any of you devs think it is a fun and easy project.
At the risk of charging completely off-topic, everything mentioned here is something I'd want to replace with a free code app:
* FB Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack & Discord: use something like Wire, Gitter, or a Matrix client, depending on the use case and features required
* Twitter: use a fediverse app
* LinkedIn: depends on the use case and features required
All of these can be used as web apps, so AFAICT a browser window with pinned tabs would give the functionality @richarddbartlett describes. There's certainly some subtleties of the combo UX I'm missing here, so a more detailed description of the features you get from this combo would be helpful. Back on-topic, such a description might also be helpful to anyone taking a crack at the integration Rich is asking for.
Discussion of alternative tools aside, Franz 5 integration looks really easy: https://github.com/meetfranz/recipe-gmail/blob/master/webview.js
Just use css selector to find the count, and point to loomio message screen url with ServiceURL in package.json. could maybe even fork gmail recipe and customize it purely from github ui
Sounds great. Is this something you could contribute?
Thanks for asking. I've been meaning to try Franz, but until I do, this task will be a bit back burner for me :)
Fair enough. Thanks for the tip, I'll see who I can connect it to.
@richarddbartlett rather than integrating with one specific UI, why not provide integration with the Matrix protocol instead, allowing any Matrix client to be used? Matrix also already provides integrations for most of the other messengers/platforms you list… I just feel like doing it at the UI level is a lot of work for little gain, whereas the protocol-layer might mean a bit more work, but exponentially bigger gains…