Intro (blog context)
I often write to CEOs of macOS app development companies to encourage them to make their software link-friendly.
I’ve decided to start sharing some of these emails on this blog so that the broader community—developers, power users, and productivity thinkers—can join the conversation and help move the ecosystem forward.
Below is a slightly redacted version of a recent message I sent to the team at TextExpander.
Letter to TextExpander
Hi,
I’m the CEO of CogSci Apps Corp. and the editor of the Manifesto for Ubiquitous Linking, which was published by 24 developers, CEOs, and professors. And many more have signed on since.
The goal of the Manifesto is simple:
It should be possible—primarily via automation, and also via the UI—to obtain a link to the currently selected item in an application.
In the case of TextExpander, this would mean being able to obtain a direct link to the currently selected snippet (e.g., via a textexpander:// URL).
We refer to applications that implement this straightforward capability as link-friendly.
Here is a long (though still incomplete) list of macOS applications that already support this functionality:
Link-friendly Mac Apps
It would be extremely valuable if TextExpander were to become link-friendly as defined above. For reference, here is a concise technical overview of what’s required: Information for Developers to Make Their Apps Linkable (API Requirements for Compatibility with Hookmark)
I’d be happy to explain the rationale, benefits, or implementation details further—feel free to email me or even FaceTime me if that’s convenient.
Once TextExpander meets these (very modest) requirements, I would be delighted to invite TextExpander to be our Partner for the Month. This is a co-marketing initiative that has proven effective at boosting visibility of the link-friendliness of apps.
Cheers,
Luc