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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

#71

Post by smackfu »

pstr wrote: post #10
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…

Apple's "App Store" app on iOS uses HTML...

Certainly seems like it, or at least every page it displays is doing a separate server call that is not cached very well.

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

#72

Post by smackfu »

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.

Well, one advantage of the app store is that you can charge for your app.

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

#73

Post by DenisM »

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…

Somehow we ended up with very different experiences. I played with Sencha Mobile Kitchen Sink demo on the iPhone 4 and it was quite impressive. http://www.sencha.com/products/touch/demos/

Yes, it lags ever so slightly, but faster CPU in iPhone 5 should take care of that. My only other complain is that they messed up calculating tap areas for tabbar/toolbar items - Sencha has tap area equal to the visual size of the button, whereas UIKit assigns entire section of the toolbar (44 pixels tall in portrait), which makes a lot of difference in tap detection. But I don't see why they can't fix it, and then it would be pretty good...

To be clear, I am still staying away from UIWebView in favor of UIKit, but I am getting increasingly interested in this.

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

#74

Post by DenisM »

shahidhussain wrote: post #21
kwellman wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just watched this video ( http://gigaom.com/2011/09/27/facebook-mobilize-2011/ ) where Facebook's head of mobile product talks (a tiny bit) about using HTML5 in their mobile products instead of all native development to keep pace with launches on the Facebook desktop site. Check out the video at ~16 minute mark.

As if by magic, this story was just published: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how_facebook_mobile_wil...

It took m a few seconds to realize what is wrong with "HTML5 fist of rage" logo in the article. The fist has 6 fingers. To be fair the original HTML5 logo isn't that much better...

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

#75

Post by DenisM »

joehewitt wrote: post #56
flyosity wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm fairly certain that the Facebook iPhone app does not UIWebViews to render anything. Their fast-scrolling tableviews are painstakingly crafted from scratch, natively, and (I believe) still use Joe Hewitt's framework for complex view rendering. I know some guys on the Facebook iPhone app team and they're die-hard Cocoa developers, I can't see them ever saying "screw it" and using a UIWebView with HTML.

Some, but not all, table views were replaced with web views a few months ago. News Feed is one example that is now HTML.

Hm. How do you handle progressive loading? Do you even bother, or do you just load up the entire news feed and let the WebKit struggle with keeping images in-ram/in-cache etc?

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

#77

Post by mikeklaas »

sv123 wrote: post #58
mikeklaas wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Is it made in phonegap though? ie. The only native control on your app is a web browser window?

Nope, it isn't made in PhoneGap. The only native (visible) controls are in the web browser header.

There is a lot of non-visible Obj-C, e.g., for controlling caching and other niceties.

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

#78

Post by dkersten »

Urgo wrote: post #6

https://build.phonegap.com/docs/ios-builds "Since PhoneGap Build uses Apple's standard development process to build applications, you will need to sign up for their developer program to build iOS applications on PhoneGap Build. You will also need a Mac to configure your certificate and provisioning profile." :(

Check out AppMobi[1], it may be what you need - at least, from my brief glance at it, it looks like it: build iOS and android apps using HTML+JS, no need for a Mac or the iOS developer kit. The core tools are free too, but they charge for services such as compiling your program for iOS and such. They also have something called DirectCanvas which is basically HTML5 canvas without the rest of the browser cruft, for higher performance canvas apps (eg, games - they have built in support for the Impact JS game engine, for example).

[1] http://www.appmobi.com/

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

#79

Post by brackin »

mikeklaas wrote: post #77
sv123 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it made in phonegap though? ie. The only native control on your app is a web browser window?

Nope, it isn't made in PhoneGap. The only native (visible) controls are in the web browser header. There is a lot of non-visible Obj-C, e.g., for controlling caching and other niceties.

Feedly and Wunderlist are also HTML5 apps.

Also: Love Zite, congrats on the sale.

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

#80

Post by nupark2 »

DenisM wrote: post #73
FooBarWidget wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Somehow we ended up with very different experiences. I played with Sencha Mobile Kitchen Sink demo on the iPhone 4 and it was quite impressive. http://www.sencha.com/products/touch/demos/ Yes, it lags ever so slightly, but faster CPU in iPhone 5 should take care of that. My only other complain is that they messed up calculating tap areas for tabbar/toolbar items - Sencha has tap area equal to the visual size of the b…

Yes, it lags ever so slightly, but faster CPU in iPhone 5 should take care of that.

This is always the reply of web developers -- even on the desktop! "Yes, it's slow now, but it'll be faster with new hardware!".

Meanwhile, the native applications use that additional processor power to do more stuff, and the webapps fall further behind again.

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