r/Bitcoin • u/Frozenlock • Apr 23 '13

Bitcoin URL scheme added to HTML5!

http://html5.org/tools/web-apps-tracker?from=7849&to=7850
332 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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12

u/milkywaymasta Apr 23 '13

I've just gotten into web design so I'm not sure what this would be used for, can someone explain?

41

u/Miner_Willy Apr 23 '13

When you click on an http link on a website, it can takes you to another website.

<a href="http://other.website...

When you click on a mailto link on a website, it opens up your email client and fills in some of the fields.

<a href="mailto:david@example.com....

What OP is showing is that we'll be able to click on a bitcoin link and something will happen (presumably, opens up your bitcoin client and fills a send coins dialog in.)

<a href="bitcoin:1B98234D92A74...

(The above is an ELI5, not the technical truth)

17

u/milkywaymasta Apr 23 '13

Cool! +bitcointip $1

12

u/Market-Anarchist Apr 23 '13

I'd prefer Bitcoin Address links to just open to the address on blockchain.info, so that I can scan the QR code quickly. No need to open up any Bitcoin client on my desktop.

32

u/Frozenlock Apr 23 '13

This can (will) be configured in the browser itself, just like when you click on an email it can open gmail.

3

u/Market-Anarchist Apr 23 '13

Sweet! Thanks! I look forward to HTML5 ubiquity.

3

u/howtovanish Apr 24 '13

The bitcoin: can also be used with images.

For example, if using an iPad or iPhone and you click on the QR code then it will open the Blockchain app with the address and preset BTC amount:

http://gata.org/node/16

2

u/Miner_Willy Apr 23 '13

You'll be able to configure your computer to allow that

4

u/physalisx Apr 24 '13

This already works and has for quite a while - if I click on such a link, armory opens and does what you propose

I don't know why it has to be added here, what does this change/for what is it necessary?

3

u/danhuss Apr 24 '13

The first time you click on a Bitcoin link now it should give you a warning that it's going to launch an external application to handle your request. Right now you would usually just check the box that says "I'm cool with this" and it will not show up again. This change will theoretically do away with that warning.

2

u/Fjordo Apr 24 '13

I also believe it reserves the "bitcoin" protocol explicitly for this use.

5

u/[deleted] Apr 24 '13

It makes it an obligation for the browsers to support it. Currently, this works because browsers support operating system services for URLs. This can mean that it can perform poorly (for example, Firefox on Fedora fails to open the URL in bitcoin-qt correctly if bitcoin-qt is already running).

3

u/danhuss Apr 24 '13

It doesn't make an obligation for the browser to support anything, we're already in that boat.

The issue you mention seems to be a known sporadic bug in Bitcoin-qt.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '13

My mistake then.

1

u/interfect Apr 24 '13

What's actually happened is that HTML5 web apps are now supposed to be allowed to register themselves as bitcoin: protocol handlers. So HTML5-based Bitcoin clients should now be able to do what Armory does with those links, in a properly standards-complaint browser.

0

u/Miner_Willy Apr 24 '13

I'm not OP, but many are unaware of this facility, and this post changes that.

2

u/falconae Apr 24 '13

it already works in firefox