MSC4079: Server-Defined Client Landing Pages

proposals/4079-client-server-landing-page-html.md

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+# MSC4079: Server-Defined User Home Pages
+
+## Abstract 
+
+This proposal extends the Matrix protocol to allow servers to define custom
+formatted documents that can be rendered by clients as a user home page. This feature
+introduces a non-intrusive yet flexible manner to communicate server-specific information such as
+donation requests, scheduled maintenance, updates, new features, and changelogs.
+
+## Background 
+
+Currently, there is no standardized method in Matrix for server admins to communicate information
+directly within user clients in a passive way. While rooms can serve this purpose, they lack the
+persistence and prime visibility that many server administrators desire. Similarly, server-notices
+are aggressive notifications to users that can cause unnecessary noise, and are implemented as
+rooms.
+
+## Proposal 
+
+Introduce an optional configuration for matrix servers that allows them to specify an optionally
+HTML-formatted document, adhering to the current subset of HTML utilized for message formatting.
+Clients can render this document in a dedicated "home" view or as a placeholder page when no active
+conversations are selected.
+
+## Use Cases
+
+- Server administrators want to communicate an upcoming maintenance window without emailing all
+  users.
+- A non-profit Matrix server could display donation information on the home page to encourage
+  support from its users.
+- Announcement of new features or user guides following an update can be nicely formatted and made
+  readily available upon client login.
+- Changelogs for server updates can be displayed, helping users to understand recent changes without
+  external navigation.
+- Links to other supported clients may be supplied in case users are looking for alternative
+  interfaces.
+
+## Specification
+
+- A new optional field will be defined within the well-known Matrix configuration for clients:
+  user_home_page.
+- The user_home_page field can be defined as a list of formats following the [Extensible Event
+MSC](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/blob/main/proposals/1767-extensible-events.md),
+  allowing clients which do not render a specific format to fall back to other message types. HTML
+  is supported as either in-line, or by pointing to an html file at an accessible http(s) endpoint
+  reachable by the client.
+- HTML content will be sanitized by the client and restricted to the subset of HTML currently
+  allowed for messages.
+- This field can be queried by clients during the login or initial loading process, and refreshed at
+  least once every 12 hours if the client has been open the entire time.
+- Clients may choose to implement this feature as a "home" button or as default content in the main
+  view when no conversation is active.
+
+## Examples
+
+Advertisement of the content for clients to use would be done via `/.well-known/matrix/client`
+within the existing `m.homeserver` object.
+
+Example formatting using a file URI:
+
+```
+{ 
+  "m.homeserver": { 
+    "user_home_page": [
+        {
+            "mimetype": "text/plain",
+            "body": "# Visit https://your.domain/user-home.html for the latest server announcements."
+        },
+        {
+            "mimetype": "text/html",
+            "body": "https://your.domain/user-home.html"
+        }
+    ]
+  }
+}
+```
+
+Example formatting using in-line HTML:
+
+``` 
+{ 
+  "m.homeserver": { 
+    "user_home_page": [
+        {
+            "mimetype": "text/plain",
+            "body": "# Welcome to our Matrix Homeserver!\nVisit our website to make a donation."
+        },
+        {
+            "mimetype": "text/html",
+            "body": "<h1>Welcome to our Matrix Homeserver!</h1><p>Visit our website to make a donation.</p>"
+        }
+    ]
+  }
+}
+```
+
+Only one value is needed for clients to serve the content. If more than one is presented, the same
+standards used the the [Extensible Event
+MSC](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/blob/main/proposals/1767-extensible-events.md) are used to choose a format to render.
+
+## Security Considerations 
+
+To mitigate any potential security risks from malicious content:
+
+- Clients MUST sanitize the HTML content according to the existing rules for message content
+  sanitation.
+- External resources (e.g., scripts, stylesheets) MUST NOT be fetched by default to avoid privacy
+  leaks and must be explicitly allowed by the client. Images or files may be rendered and linked
+  using mxc URIs for native matrix media serving.
+
+## Privacy Considerations 
+
+As this feature may potentially be used to track user interaction with the
+home page content, it's important to:
+
+- Provide clients the ability to disable external resource fetching.
+- Ensure that user privacy preferences are respected when displaying this content.
+
+## Conclusion 
+
+This spec change proposal seeks to empower server administrators with the ability to
+directly communicate important information to their users within the Matrix client, enhancing the
+user experience by providing relevant and timely information while respecting user privacy and
+security.