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Go native, HTML5 is going to lag for a while

blog.suthakamal.com

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Re: Go native, HTML5 is going to lag for a while

#81

Post by freehunter »

josteink wrote: post #73
rimantas wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm not debating the correctness of your statement, Actually you are. > but when you start out with something as mindblowingly > pointless as "Android's browser is even worse" it's hard > to take the rest of your point seriously. It is not pointless. Don't pretend to be silly as not to understand what "Android browser" is.

> Don't pretend to be silly as not to understand what "Android browser" is. In that case, I challenge you to pinpoint what browser I'm writing this comment from. It should be obvious. It is the Windows-browser. (And before you start debating how that sounds ludicrous, take a step back and realize how Android is more like Windows and Linux than iOS when it comes to software-choice, not to mention versions and revision…

Problem is, Android's stock browser is called... "Browser". So Android Browser is perfectly valid.

Re: Go native, HTML5 is going to lag for a while

#82

Post by erichocean »

Go native, HTML5 is going to lag for a while

This is true for most developers. I don't think it's true on the leading edge of HTML 5 development, but it's true that the existing MVC libraries really aren't there yet, and if anything, are asking the wrong questions.

It'll be awhile before HTML5 application development is a viable option for your average dev team just wanting to get a product out the door.

Re: Go native, HTML5 is going to lag for a while

#83

Post by Zigurd »

I do not believe this debate will ever be fully resolved one way or the other. That is, there will always be things Web sites/apps are better for: Delivering free-form, multimedia information, especially when frequently updated. Or for relatively simple apps that benefit from pervasive access.

There are also things that OS-specific apps are likely to be better at for many years to come: Apps that operate in the background without using a lot of battery power, and interactive apps that manipulate and organize information and benefit from the richest and most responsive user experience that is integrated with OS features for information and device resource sharing.

OS innovation hasn't stopped. App development for iOS, Android, and Windows 8 hasn't even fully probed what those OSs can do for app developers in creating apps that work together. And the OS developers have not stopped improving their app APIs. They all have different approaches to interaction and application architecture, especially inter-app communication and cooperation.

So not only will we see a continuation of platform-specific apps, we will see a lot of innovation in what those apps can do on different platforms, and a richer expression of the differences between platforms.

"Write-once run everywhere" has zero value to the end user. They want the best Facebook/g+/Twitter/whatever experience possible on the platform they use.

Re: Go native, HTML5 is going to lag for a while

#84

Post by Zigurd »

ericxtang wrote: post #12

What about things like Titanium or RubyMotion? They compile to native and allow you to have a "unified" code base.

These technologies live in a very narrow space:

1. If you are delivering information that wants to be accessed everywhere, write a Web app

2. If your users want the richest interactive experience, write platform-specific apps

3. For everything else, use proprietary multi-platform app SDKs.

What is "everything else?"

Re: Go native, HTML5 is going to lag for a while

#85

Post by kybernetikos »

Zigurd wrote: post #83

I do not believe this debate will ever be fully resolved one way or the other. That is, there will always be things Web sites/apps are better for: Delivering free-form, multimedia information, especially when frequently updated. Or for relatively simple apps that benefit from pervasive access. There are also things that OS-specific apps are likely to be better at for many years to come: Apps that operate in the backg…

> "Write-once run everywhere" has zero value to the end user. They want the best Facebook/g+/Twitter/whatever experience possible on the platform they use.

Exactly, and if Mr Enduser X can get it on his weird platform because it runs HTML, that's a massive piece of value to him.

Also, while he wants a good experience, he wants it to be free too and the cost in building and maintaining multiple codebases for client libraries would certainly get passed on to him one way or another.

Re: Go native, HTML5 is going to lag for a while

#87

Post by Zigurd »

kybernetikos wrote: post #85
Zigurd wrote: post #83

I do not believe this debate will ever be fully resolved one way or the other. That is, there will always be things Web sites/apps are better for: Delivering free-form, multimedia information, especially when frequently updated. Or for relatively simple apps that benefit from pervasive access. There are also things that OS-specific apps are likely to be better at for many years to come: Apps that operate in the backg…

> "Write-once run everywhere" has zero value to the end user. They want the best Facebook/g+/Twitter/whatever experience possible on the platform they use. Exactly, and if Mr Enduser X can get it on his weird platform because it runs HTML, that's a massive piece of value to him. Also, while he wants a good experience, he wants it to be free too and the cost in building and maintaining multiple codebases for client li…

That argument is a little circular. If a platform has significant market share, apps get ported to that platform. If not, it doesn't matter.

Before there were Web apps, all software makers wrote apps for multiple platforms. Porting to a platform has a cost, but, for a successful software company, not a relatively large cost. Even unprofitable platforms are likely to be supported by some software makers as a way of erecting barriers to entry, or to speculate on the future success of that platform.

Users will expect all the features of their platform to be well-supported in their apps.

Re: Go native, HTML5 is going to lag for a while

#89

Post by bookwormAT »

SunboX wrote: post #49
josteink wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On Android, you can install updated browsers like Firefox and Chrome. Not sure about how well their mobile counter-parts actually support HTML5, but at least you have a choice for a non-system-supplied browser. On iOS you are, as you say, SOL because Apple has literally crippled the options you have down to one: The one they supply and update, once a year.

> On Android, you can install updated browsers like Firefox and Chrome. But these Updates won´t affect UIWebViews :( (hybrid apps)

Beginning with version 4.1, WebView is created from a recent snapshot of chromium before every major release. At least that is what Google Engineers said during the Android Fireside chat at Google I/O.

Re: Go native, HTML5 is going to lag for a while

#90

Post by cek »

DigitalSea wrote: post #14

Lets get this straight, the limitations in performance on Mobile Safari are very much deliberate limitations. Do you seriously think a company like Apple who gets a pretty large chunk of app store sales is going to let something like HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript steal it's profits away? Fat chance. Although it even rings true for desktop browsers not being able to perform as optimally in regards to some HTML5 features…

Apple makes almost no money, in relative terms, from app store sales (about 1% in '10)[1].

The business of running the appstore is not the reason they will never fully support cross-platform mobile development.

The real reason is websites that run as apps break Apple’s strangle-hold on their walled garden. Apple's business model is to sell devices via a tightly controlled channel (read few middlemen) at a high-margin; getting paid up-front when the device is purchased. Those high-margins are partially possible because of the value ascribed by customers to the uniqueness of variety & volume in the appstore combined with it's friction-free nature.

WORA is a pipe-dream. Has always been. Always will be. Meanwhile developers continue to suffer because there are enough 'popular' platforms that they have no choice but to do cross-platform development.[2] Sadly, this is just reality; I do not believe there will ever be a silver bullet.

[1] http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20008540-37.html [2] http://ceklog.kindel.com/2012/07/24/apps-must-be-cross-platf...

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