I explored the concept of "magic iframes" and using adoptNode to move iframes between windows. Initially, I thought I'd found a way to preserve iframe state during the move. However, after discussing with Jake Archibald, it turns out that appendChild already handles node adoption, making adoptNode redundant. Furthermore, moving iframes causes them to reload, negating the perceived benefit. While moving DOM elements between documents is still interesting, the original premise for iframes doesn't hold. The post includes a demo and discusses the potential of the <portal> API.
I've been exploring solutions to connect web apps and overcome the limitations of isolated experiences. Web Intents was a good start, but ultimately fell short. The Share API helps, but we need a more general solution for IPC and service discovery. My latest experiment builds on the Tasklets API and Comlink, allowing seamless communication between windows and web workers. It simplifies the complex postMessage API and makes it easy to expose and consume APIs across different contexts. I've created a service discovery mechanism where a 'middleman' site keeps track of available services. Clients can request services based on criteria, and the middleman facilitates the connection. Once connected, the client and service communicate directly, bypassing the middleman. This approach simplifies the developer experience and makes it much easier to build interconnected web experiences. Check out the demos and let me know your thoughts!
