Clarification around Web Bundles, WebViews, and MiniApps?

[aluhrs13]

This doesn't fully align with adding a use-case, but there's a number of ongoing areas that seem closely related to WebViews and would be worth listing where we see WebViews differing from other standards and proposals. From what I've seen:

• MiniApps: Use WebViews as an implementation detail.
• Web Bundles: Are unrelated?
• Isolated Web Apps: Also unrelated?

[QingAn]

@QingAn Add some description on MiniApps using WebView

[tomayac]

Shameless plug for my article series on mini apps: web.dev/mini-apps.

[QingAn]

How MiniApps use WebView

MiniApp is a mobile application format, a hybrid solution that relies on Web technologies (especially CSS and JavaScript) and integrates with the capabilities of native apps. Usually, MiniApp runs inside a super app, which is a software platform that hosts and supports multiple MiniApps.

In a MiniApp, the view layer is separated from the logic layer.

• The view layer is responsible for rendering MiniApp pages, including Web components and native components display. WebView enables the rendering of web content. For some Web components not supported by the WebView or have performance limitations (such as map, video, etc.), native components are used and are rendered by native view.
• The logic layer is implemented with JavaScript Worker. A worker is responsible for MiniApp’s event processing, API calls, and lifecycle management. In most cases, one MiniApp has multiple views (WebViews and Native Views) and only one worker. The views can be considered stateless, and all the states will be stored in the worker.

More info can be found in MiniApp Standardization White Paper.