I am not sure in what world. 90% of the applications I use are native desktop apps. Look ma, no web.
Kinda similar boat here, I kinda hate electron for similar reasons it's just bloated as hell.
Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
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Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#32UX, harder to optimize to a small screen. Nowadays phones are huge compared to 10 years ago and native apps got a very early advantage.
Connectivity, 2.5G and 3G were slow, bandwidth is capped, no internet at all somewhere.
And yes, what can you do on iOS if Apple forces their browser on all their customers?
But (Android) I still spend most of my time in a browser. Notable exceptions: WhatsApp, Telegram, K9, Maps, OSMAnd, Camera, Gallery, YouTube / NewPipe. Maybe 1 hour vs all the rest.
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#33One word: Apple. Preventing PWAs is detrimental to users and an abuse of their monopoly.
Its not sufficient of an explanation. For desktop browsers there are also no application launch icons. Probably has most to do with the limits of the UX of a phone. Pulling up a browser and typing in a url, hitting autocomplete is done in 2 seconds. On mobile everything is so much more painful, a lot more desire for one click wonder buttons
Wait, there is sort of speeddial/favorites tab in every browser, desktop and mobile. E.g. a food ordering webapp is my first “wonder button” in safari’s empty tab. I could even put it to the phone home screen (no need for that though).
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#34One word: Apple. Preventing PWAs is detrimental to users and an abuse of their monopoly.
You should read the article. To sum it up: the web beat desktop apps because traditional OS were not designed for a networked world.
The iPhone however was designed for a networked world so it didn't have all the limitations of desktop OS.
The web wasn't designed for a mobile world so it had a lot of limitations: hard to do a good UX, passwords to type on a tiny keyboard, no offline mode (or so complex to use that no dev do), URL vs app icons...
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#35Lot of potential theories here. Allow me to offer one of my own: it's our physical posture and ergonomics. When on the desktop, you're usually sitting down in front of a desk after deciding to set aside some time for the express purpose of doing something on a computer. A small wait for the UI to render is tolerable. But when you're on a mobile device, it's usually the the thing you're using to kill time while you're waiting for something else. Delays are a lot less tolerable.
Another thing: on desktop, the burden of task switching is lower -- you click another tab while the page loads. It's literally just another instantly responsive click back when the thing loads. On mobile, it's a slightly slower, more involved process as you tap and hunt for icons.
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#36I am not sure in what world. 90% of the applications I use are native desktop apps. Look ma, no web.
You don’t use Gmail, Google Docs and Maps, Outlook, Youtube? My wife uses a transcribing web app called Otter. All the fantasy map authoring tools I’ve used recently (for TTRPG use) are web apps, like Inkarnate. Arguably even Facebook, Reddit and LinkedIn are really more web apps than web sites. On mobile most people would use an app for all of these services, on desktop they’re mostly tabs in a browser.
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#37One word: Apple. Preventing PWAs is detrimental to users and an abuse of their monopoly.
You should read the article. To sum it up: the web beat desktop apps because traditional OS were not designed for a networked world. The iPhone however was designed for a networked world so it didn't have all the limitations of desktop OS. The web wasn't designed for a mobile world so it had a lot of limitations: hard to do a good UX, passwords to type on a tiny keyboard, no offline mode (or so complex to use that no…
Only that's not how the world works.
The world works with power: Apple used their power to make strangle the entire idea of the web on mobile by putting a break on change. Why? Mobile web tech helps their competitors more than it helps them.
If Apple's own platform / APIs had had the same rate of change as they effectively forced on the mobile web, then they would be a decade behind Android.
This is exactly the same thing as Microsoft did in the 90s with productivity software. They had secret undocumented APIs which made Office a fantastic experience and non-office "meh".
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#38Because mobile phones' hardware and software are much closer integrated and closed systems than the desktop or the laptop. Bringing the web (or web tech) to phones is both technically more of a challenge and economically in particular Apple opposes it. Ceding control to the open web couldn't really be resisted on desktops.
However I'm relatively confident that the web is going to eat mobile regardless, starting with web technology and cross platform JS based frameworks gaining popularity, regulatory action against platforms, and when we're at the point where the web on mobile isn't disadvantaged any more it should be the clear preference.
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#39…did it? I still use tons of native apps on my laptop, and almost exclusively native apps only on my desktop.
You're thinking about software not apps
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
You should read the article. To sum it up: the web beat desktop apps because traditional OS were not designed for a networked world. The iPhone however was designed for a networked world so it didn't have all the limitations of desktop OS. The web wasn't designed for a mobile world so it had a lot of limitations: hard to do a good UX, passwords to type on a tiny keyboard, no offline mode (or so complex to use that no…
Only that's not how the world works. The world works with power: Apple used their power to make strangle the entire idea of the web on mobile by putting a break on change. Why? Mobile web tech helps their competitors more than it helps them. If Apple's own platform / APIs had had the same rate of change as they effectively forced on the mobile web, then they would be a decade behind Android. This is exactly the same…
If you look carefully you'll see this tactic all over: throw mud in your opponents eyes to slow their rate of change.
See: US banking (in the EU I can transfer cash, instantly, for free to a friend's bank account and have been able to do so for a decade), Fossil fuel vs Climate change, most commercial standard bodies. It's everywhere.