Replace Chrome App Launcher in Xubuntu Linux

So Google has announced that the Chrome App Launcher isn't cool enough, and it's being discontinued. Since I was one of the eight people who actually used it, I was a little annoyed by this, so I set out to replace it with a plain old launcher.

First, kick off Chrome, right-click on the bookmark bar, and tick "show apps shortcut." You need this.

Next, go ahead and delete the Chrome App Launcher from the usual panel.

Now right-click on your panel where all your other launchers are (yes, I came from the Mac world and my panel #1 at the bottom of my screen looks remarkably dock-like,) click panel, add new items, and select Launcher. Then click on Add.

Right-click your new launcher and select "properties."  Click the plus button to add new items to the launcher. Search for Chrome first, and add it. So long as Chrome remains the first item in the list, the icon will remain Chrome, and that's really what we want.

From your Chrome window, click the apps shortcut at the far left of your bookmarks bar. This will list all your apps.

Right-click on each chrome app and select create shortcut. You can put them in your applications menu if you want to, but the one that's most important is a desktop shortcut. Do all the apps you have.

Select all the google app shortcuts on your desktop and drag them to the Chrome launcher properties window. Then close the properties window. You can delete the shortcuts off your desktop, too.

That's all there is to it.  Now, if you click-and-hold the icon, or click on the little up-arrow beside it, you'll get the menu. Click on one of those, and Chrome will launch with your app running. If you just click on the icon itself, you get Chrome.

Now I just have to figure out how to make this happen in Raspbian, although at the speed Chromium for Raspbian is updated, I should have another decade before Chromium launcher goes away.

-JRS