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Write your app in HTML5, upload it and get back app-store ready apps

build.phonegap.com

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Re: Write your app in HTML5, upload it and get back app-store ready apps

#41

Post by jbail »

FooBarWidget wrote: post #32
jbail wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HTML5 is JavaScript. Without JavaScript, HTML5 is just a few semantic HTML tags (like header and section) and a few extra form input attributes (like required and placeholder). As far as JavaScript frameworks go, you could use Sencha or jQuery Mobile or one of the other few dozen frameworks out there --- or you could roll your own. I've been doing mobile web development for about a year now. I've done both PhoneGap a…

I can't see why anybody would actually use jQuery Mobile and Sencha for web app development. I've tried them last week and they were impressive on a desktop browser. On a mobile device, not so much. Both jQuery Mobile and Sencha feel slow, very slow. The animations are choppy. Response times on clicks are way too long. Everything flickers like mad. Focus borders are drawn at all the wrong places. I can actually feel…

Mobile web development requires a different way of thinking about code. Every line counts. More lines equals a larger code graph in browser memory and starts to affect your app's performance.

Mobile web frameworks get you an immediate boost in developer productivity, but down the road, those gains are given back as you try to achieve reasonable performance, which to some extent is a fools errand because you just have so much library code bogging down the browser/webview.

Other parts of a mobile web app, like CSS3 transitions, will perform as well as the browser/phone lets them. Using CSS3 for transitions and animations is definitely "the right way", but as of now, these are pretty clunky on most phones.

Re: Write your app in HTML5, upload it and get back app-store ready apps

#42

Post by Lucent »

wavephorm wrote: post #25

Upload your website, download a native app. What is wrong with this picture? If you can build your app as a web app and don't require hardware access then I'd think twice whether a native app is required.

That's what I've been saying for years, until I was dragged into the Apple store by a friend and, to kill time, tried my web app on an iPad. It worked pretty well. An intrigued 10-year-old or so girl across the aisle asked, "What app is that?" "It's not an app but a site and you can see it at [redacted].com." She was turned off by the time I said "site" and tuned me out.

After that incident, I resolved to take my web app to the various app stores and am working on that with PhoneGap now.

Re: Write your app in HTML5, upload it and get back app-store ready apps

#43

Post by jberryman »

wavephorm wrote: post #25

Upload your website, download a native app. What is wrong with this picture? If you can build your app as a web app and don't require hardware access then I'd think twice whether a native app is required.

PhoneGap gives you access to much of the phone's hardware in a cross-platform compatible way:

http://docs.phonegap.com/

Re: Write your app in HTML5, upload it and get back app-store ready apps

#48

Post by yakto »

jbail wrote: post #13
Hisoka wrote: post #5

I may be ignorant, but to write a complex app, don't you need HTML5 AND a mobile javascript framework like JQuery Mobile and Sencha? Or does HTML5 handle that too? If it does require a Javascript framework, that's when the quality deteoriates... I think imitating the look and feel of native apps is easy. Making the performance smooth on the other hand is hard.

HTML5 is JavaScript. Without JavaScript, HTML5 is just a few semantic HTML tags (like header and section) and a few extra form input attributes (like required and placeholder). As far as JavaScript frameworks go, you could use Sencha or jQuery Mobile or one of the other few dozen frameworks out there --- or you could roll your own. I've been doing mobile web development for about a year now. I've done both PhoneGap a…

> The price for this is a large, multi-hundred kb framework and a commercial license.

Sencha Touch is free now (not sure when that happened). And the multi-hundred kb framework isn't much of an issue since it's bundled up in the native download and always local to the device.

Re: Write your app in HTML5, upload it and get back app-store ready apps

#49

Post by jbail »

yakto wrote: post #48
jbail wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HTML5 is JavaScript. Without JavaScript, HTML5 is just a few semantic HTML tags (like header and section) and a few extra form input attributes (like required and placeholder). As far as JavaScript frameworks go, you could use Sencha or jQuery Mobile or one of the other few dozen frameworks out there --- or you could roll your own. I've been doing mobile web development for about a year now. I've done both PhoneGap a…

> The price for this is a large, multi-hundred kb framework and a commercial license. Sencha Touch is free now (not sure when that happened). And the multi-hundred kb framework isn't much of an issue since it's bundled up in the native download and always local to the device.

The overall size of the code graph in browser memory matters. It's not just about the size you're delivering over-the-air. That said, I have apps in both the Apple Appstore and Android Market that have embedded webviews that pull down the mobile web app portions from the air. This allows 100% freedom in changing/fixing things. In these cases, yes, size matters.

Re: Write your app in HTML5, upload it and get back app-store ready apps

#50

Post by mikeklaas »

adamjernst wrote: post #2

I think PhoneGap is doing great work, they're obviously getting better, and I don't mean to diminish what others have poured so much effort into. But, are there any successful apps made with PhoneGap? Writing apps in HTML5 is constantly hyped, but there isn't a single HTML app out of the dozens on my iPhone except Netflix. PhoneGap's app gallery doesn't have a single app I've heard of. (The Netflix app isn't too plea…

Our app (Zite for iPad) is 90% HTML5+js and (I think) is reasonably successful.
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