[bruceburge]

Is this feature not built into current version of chrome on linux?

On windows, you can go to any URL and in the "Customize and Control Chrome (the 3 vertical dots) and select "Add to desktop" select "open in new window" option. Chrome will then select the icon from the URL's favorite icon, and open the URL in menuless window.

This has been a feature I believe since 2012.

[playeren]

I use the --app flag in chrome, to create shortcuts for homerolled webinterfaces for this and that. (on Ubuntu 16.04)