- Computers have more CPU than mobile phones.
- Standard and easy installation process of Apps.
- Apps born with modern UI.
Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
111–120 of 315 posts
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#112When iPhone and Android hit the scene the 'rich' web experience was primarily flash, silverlight, and some java applets (taking their last breathe). Input APIs for touch, multitouch and gesture were a mess for many years in the browser. Media queries didn't become a w3c recommendation until 2012 so building a ux that looked pleasant really wasn't possible. The memory, cpu, GPU, storage and battery constraints were un…
> The real question is how did the web remain relevant while being so far behind this tectonic platform shift? Not sure it is relevant anymore for a non-trivial chunk of people - at least in mobile. Lately I have quite often needed to explain about a good web app accessible in browser but not in app store. And I am a bit bewildered. The amount of people pretty much unable to distinguish between browser, app store and…
I don't have an iPhone, can you expand on that location services part? Does Safari not show the permission popup when a website asks for it or something?
On Android, websites can request location permissions, you can't access any of that stuff by default.
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
> content addressibility I'd say the app ecosystem promotes closed content whereas WWW promotes open content.
What open content? Wikipedia? That's If we're judging whether the Web promotes open content by the actual results after three decades, the exact opposite is the case: the Web promotes closed content. Netflix, ESPN, Google/Gmail/Maps/News/etc, Microsoft/Bing/Office/mail/etc, NYTimes, Washington Post, USA Today, MSNBC, CNBC, Reuters, AP, CNN, Bloomberg, FoxNews, ABC, CBS, NBC, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Link…
It's viewed web maybe (I don't know that for sure, but let's stipulate).
But open content is not 1% of the existing web; there are more than a billion[1] websites, and anybody can make one.
You might not easily be able to find those websites (currently, there's still a good chance you might, via the major search engines, but that is subject to corporate hegemony, state actor malfeasance, shit-flooding the zone, etc).
But I think the ability to "put it out there" counts for most of the definition of "open".
Being able to consume content on your terms is also cool, but not as fundamental as being able to produce it.
[1]: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ — https://duckduckgo.com/?q=how+many+websites+are+there+in+the...
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#114When iPhone and Android hit the scene the 'rich' web experience was primarily flash, silverlight, and some java applets (taking their last breathe). Input APIs for touch, multitouch and gesture were a mess for many years in the browser. Media queries didn't become a w3c recommendation until 2012 so building a ux that looked pleasant really wasn't possible. The memory, cpu, GPU, storage and battery constraints were un…
> The real question is how did the web remain relevant while being so far behind this tectonic platform shift? We didn't all shift to to smartphones the instant they became available. It took a while for people to transition to smartphones. Likewise getting an app up and running (in addition to their websites) took time for most businesses, and many probably waited before jumping on the band wagon I am sure everyone…
"I am sure everyone on HN moved [from computers to smartphones] quickly"
I may be wrong, but I suspect you have that backwards. My guess is that at least older HNers were slower to shift from powerful but complex creation tools (computers) to easy consumption toys (smartphones) designed for consumers who found computers with files and folders just too darned complicated to use. Until good, portable mapping and good-enough cameras came along, I had no use for the "smart" features of a phone that were vastly inferior to the smart features of a real computer. For a long time, all I needed from a phone was the phone, which a small flip phone handled just fine. For anything "smart", I used the laptop & real camera in my backpack.
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also there is no app store on the web, no 30% fee. So no incentive for mobile platform owners to make it first class citizen.
Going to point out the irony of Steve Jobs not wanting an App Store at all and preferring a rich web experience. And devs getting mad at that.
I think the anger was justified at the time. The rich web experience back in those days was extremely limited (as it still sometimes is, on iOS). There was no way anyone was going to write a music player that could compete with the built-in one using just the "rich web experience".
Connection speeds in the original iPhone era were low, as was processing power. Spotify wouldn't have been able to provide you with the service it can provide over the web now.
The focus on the web was also a complete break from existing smartphones, where installing applications had been the norm for years. iPhones weren't exactly the first to feature apps, or even app stores, and delivering an iPhone experience that was as smooth as a Windows Mobile or Blackberry experience was going to be difficult without native code. At the same time, everyone already knew that upper and middle management (and all the other departments to convince when introducing new software) were going to buy iPhones because new, shiny Apple stuff often scores well as a status symbol.
At the time, it made complete sense to be mad. It's not that people didn't want to create websites, it's that websites were simply not equivalent to the real deal. A lot has changed since then.
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#116I thought it was because, originally, native apps on mobile were better performant than web apps, which did not need to be optimized for the device they would run on, or efficient in terms of battery usage.
Desktop hardware was more powerful and forgiving to unoptimized web apps or poorly performing web engines.
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
What open content? Wikipedia? That's If we're judging whether the Web promotes open content by the actual results after three decades, the exact opposite is the case: the Web promotes closed content. Netflix, ESPN, Google/Gmail/Maps/News/etc, Microsoft/Bing/Office/mail/etc, NYTimes, Washington Post, USA Today, MSNBC, CNBC, Reuters, AP, CNN, Bloomberg, FoxNews, ABC, CBS, NBC, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Link…
uhm... everything? "open" as in anyone can make a website and if it's has one good article, it will show up in some google query's result.
> "open" as in anyone can make a website
Anyone can make an app too.
> if it's has one good article, it will show up in some google query's result.
Maybe buried deep in the 100th page, but not the front.
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#118I thought it was because, originally, native apps on mobile were better performant than web apps, which did not need to be optimized for the device they would run on, or efficient in terms of battery usage. Desktop hardware was more powerful and forgiving to unoptimized web apps or poorly performing web engines.
> native apps on mobile were better performant than web apps, which did not need to be optimized for the device they would run on, or efficient in terms of battery usage.
It’s still the case now, desktop or mobile.
Not to mention lack of accessibility features.
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#119UX, 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, OS…
Notable exceptions: WhatsApp, Telegram, K9, Maps, OSMAnd, Camera, Gallery, YouTube / NewPipe
Why not use the web versions of WhatsApp, Maps, YouTube, Photos etc.?
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#120I thing one main missed point here is that the web-as-app shift on desktop happened before computers were super-mainstream and daily-used. It happened when most of its users were fine with new techniques to get stuff done.
Actually, the web itself happened after computers had gone super-mainstream. That led to the dotcom-boom and burst of the late 90s/early 00s. From there, web 2.0 developed. Google started pushing its plugin (Google Gears) to deliver webapps, but uptake was too low and therefore their webapps suffered. Google solved that by building a browser that deliver the JavaScript speed they needed. That led to a proliferation of web apps as the term is understood nowadays.