Add a "Connect to Server" button on the web UI.

[Cooldude2606]

tl;dr There should be a button which can be clicked which will launch factorio and connect you to the selected server.

Why

There has been some confussion about if starting a server should also launch factorio. This can be easily explained but having a deadicated "connect" button will prevent this being asked again. Further more, it would just be a really nice feature to have to quickly join a server rather than needing to use the server menu or direct connect.

What

There should be a "Connect" or "Connect to Server" next to the start button on instance pages and/or as the URL for "Public Address" on the instances list.

How

Steam provides support for starting game through URL app protocols, this includes providing arguments to the game being started. This can be used to launch factorio and connect to a server with minimal input from the user.
eg, steam://run/427520//--mp-connect=play.explosivegaming.nl (427520 is the app id for Factorio)

Issues

If the user already has factorio open then nothing will happen. This can't be detected directly but it is possible to check if the user is currently on a cluster instance and prompt a server switch, but this adds more complexity for something already possible in game with the server switch plugin.