In a blog post, Google software engineer James Hawkins revealed that the company is working on a system called Web Intents in which it will enable Chrome users to pipe data between different Web applications much the same way Android users can share data between apps. The idea is to create one API that various Web applications can all use to pass data back and forth without a need for each one to be designed to work with the other apps.
Google used the example of a photo-sharing site enabling an “edit” intent through the Web Intents API. Then users would be able to use various Web-based photo editors or meme generators to modify the image on the photo-sharing site, all through the browser.
The downside is that this is currently being developed as an in-browser system, so only Chrome/Chromium users will be able to take advantage of it. However, Hawkins notes that Mozilla is working on a similar system and writes that Google and Mozilla are working together to create a single API.
Update: Google Chrome Developer Advocate Paul Kinlan has open-sourced a JavaScript shim that works with Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Internet Explorer versions 8 and 9. You can find it in GitHub.
There are shades of Adam Greenfield’s “Momcomp” vision here: a simple platform for building “mashup” application that suit an individuals’ own needs. If Google and Mozilla can build the glue, that makes a lot of the other components a lot easier to work with.
