Install as an App
Install the PanelWave CMS as a desktop app from Chrome or Edge — its own window, a Start menu and desktop shortcut, and no browser tabs or address bar.
You can install the PanelWave CMS as an app on your computer. It then opens in a window of its own, called PanelWave CMS & Editor, with the PanelWave icon in the taskbar or dock. There are no tabs, no address bar and no bookmarks bar, so the editor gets the whole window.
The installed app is still the CMS at app.panelwave.org. You work with the same account, the same works and the same features. You can install it, keep using the browser tab as well, or switch back and forth.
Install the app
Installing works in Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS.
Open the CMS
Go to app.panelwave.org in Chrome or Edge and sign in.
Start the installation
Click the install icon at the right end of the address bar (a screen with a downward arrow). If you don't see it, open the browser menu (⋮ in Chrome, ··· in Edge):
- Chrome: Cast, save, and share → Install page as app…
- Edge: Apps → Install this site as an app
The exact wording depends on your browser version.
Confirm
The browser shows an Install app dialog for PanelWave CMS & Editor. On Windows, Chrome adds the app to the Start menu (under Chrome Apps) and offers to create a desktop shortcut as well. Click Install.
The app opens straight away in its own window. After that, start it like any other program: from the Start menu, the desktop shortcut, the taskbar, the macOS Launchpad or the Dock.
Look closely at the buttons in the install dialog. Depending on the browser and its theme, Cancel can be the highlighted button. Click Install, not the button that stands out most.
Safari on macOS has its own version of this: File → Add to Dock creates a separate PanelWave window too. Firefox for desktop can't install sites as apps, so keep using the CMS in a tab there.
Working in the app
- Same sign-in. The app uses the browser profile you installed it from. If you are signed in to the CMS in the browser, you are signed in to the app too. Signing out in one signs you out in the other.
- Same settings. Theme, UI font and other settings stored in the browser apply in the app as well.
- Always up to date. The app loads the current CMS every time it starts. You never need to reinstall or update it. If a new version comes out while the app is open, reload the window (Ctrl+R, or Cmd+R on Mac).
- Links to other sites open in the browser. The help icons, this documentation and links to panelwave.org open in your normal browser. The CMS itself, including Preview, stays in the app window.
- The app menu. The ⋮ button in the title bar has the browser tools you still need: zoom, print, Copy URL and Open in Chrome (or Edge) for the screen you are on.
The app needs an internet connection. It is not an offline version of the CMS. Your works, assets and saves live on the PanelWave servers, just as they do in the browser, and the editor saves to them as you work (see Editor Layout).
The app doesn't change what the CMS needs from your screen. For day-to-day authoring we still recommend a large 4K monitor. See the CMS Overview.
Uninstall the app
Uninstalling removes only the app window and its shortcuts. Your account, works and assets stay as they are, and the CMS keeps working in the browser.
- From the app: open the ⋮ menu in the app's title bar and choose Uninstall PanelWave CMS & Editor…
- From the browser: open
chrome://apps(Chrome) oredge://apps(Edge), right-click PanelWave CMS & Editor and choose Remove or Uninstall. - On Windows: you can also remove it under Settings → Apps → Installed apps.
When you uninstall, the browser may ask whether to clear the app's data as well. Clearing it signs you out of the CMS in that browser profile. Nothing on the server is deleted.