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Google-owned website Fuchsia.dev briefly appears online

Earlier this year, Google launched the .dev top-level domain and simultaneously created a variety of new .dev websites, including a new website for Flutter. It seems Google’s Fuchsia team is planning to launch their own Fuchsia.dev website, hinting at the operating system potentially getting some more developer exposure soon.

Fuchsia.dev

Last night, Reddit user Mishudark, shared that a new website, Fuchsia.dev, had been briefly turned on for public use. Before it got taken back down, Mishudark was able to grab a handful of screenshots of the site and shared some other key details with 9to5Google.

Despite being in an early state, the website had its basic foundations in place. Namely, Fuchsia.dev let users sign in via their Google Account and could actually be installed as a Progressive Web App, appearing in the app launcher as a black Fuchsia logo. One key aspect the site lacked, however, is a homepage. Instead, visitors were treated to a 404 page and a search bar.

Thus far, all of Google’s .dev domain websites, including opensource.dev and web.dev, have been aimed at informing developers on different subjects. This hints that Fuchsia.dev could one day serve as the central home for Fuchsia-related developer documentation. However, this isn’t the only purpose Google currently has planned for the domain.

Another use

Earlier this month, a new member of the Fuchsia team proposed some changes to documentation, to help future new members get started. In particular, an explanation of how to work on a particular tool built using the Go programming language was incorrect. While discussing whether this change was necessary, one Googler mentions that they’re waiting on Fuchsia.dev for “vanity imports.”

Developers who work with Go are most likely familiar with the idea of vanity imports. But for the rest of us, it’s a way of hiding the long-winded URL of some code written in the Go programming language behind a shorter, cooler URL. This means Fuchsia.dev will be used to shorten URLs like “fuchsia.googlesource.com/jiri/cmd/jiri” down to something like “fuchsia.dev/jiri” which is easier to remember.

Admittedly, this isn’t the most exciting thing that Google could be doing with the Fuchsia.dev domain, but it’s definitely better than just redirecting to the Google homepage like Fuchsia.com does. Hopefully, we’ll be seeing more of Fuchsia.dev in the near future.

Thanks Mishudark!

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Author

Avatar for Kyle Bradshaw Kyle Bradshaw

Kyle is an author and researcher for 9to5Google, with special interests in Made by Google products, Fuchsia, and uncovering new features.

Got a tip or want to chat? Twitter or Email. Kyle@9to5mac.com

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