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Your 'app' could have been a webpage (so I fixed it for you)

danq.me

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Re: Your 'app' could have been a webpage (so I fixed it for you)

#401

Post by j1elo »

OkayPhysicist wrote: post #312

Nobody here is talking about the fact that a significant number of users want apps, too. I'm responsible for an internal tool at the company I work for, hosted as a website, that handles a bunch of miscellaneous tasks that other employees need. Think reimbursements, documentation and reporting, gathering and presenting business data. That sort of thing. When I took it over, it was desktop only ( a lot of formatted pa…

As not a web dev, out of curiosity: What would be the drawback or problem with showing a header or pop-up on mobile browsers, offering to install them as (web)app? Then using the PWA functionality of the browser to do it.

I'm not a heavy user of those but the result of PWAs has always been an icon that's handled by the OS like if it was any other native app, and when opened it just behaves like the web browser in kiosk mode just for that website.

Re: Your 'app' could have been a webpage (so I fixed it for you)

#402

Post by adamwk »

jonahx wrote: post #362
OkayPhysicist wrote: post #312

Nobody here is talking about the fact that a significant number of users want apps, too. I'm responsible for an internal tool at the company I work for, hosted as a website, that handles a bunch of miscellaneous tasks that other employees need. Think reimbursements, documentation and reporting, gathering and presenting business data. That sort of thing. When I took it over, it was desktop only ( a lot of formatted pa…

> We take tech literacy for granted, because it's like a dozen levels down fundamental to our entire field. But the tech illiterati exist, and they love apps. They "love apps" because apple and android have spent billions to break their mental models and convince them that "you use apps to do things on your phone". Literally. That's the extent of most people's understanding. So, sure, they "want" apps in the same sen…

This doesn’t really make sense. Apps were pretty popular immediately after decades of web usage. There are many reasons to prefer an app. Even on desktop; if I’m using a service enough throughout the day, I want a native app, not a website.

Re: Your 'app' could have been a webpage (so I fixed it for you)

#403

Post by JimsonYang »

skyberrys wrote: post #379
nitwit005 wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds less like wanting apps, than simply having no idea what's going on.

Most of the users of phones seem to operate on the no idea what's going on model. It's on developers to meet them where they are at, and if that's the app store you better be there for them.

Agreed, you never insult or complain about the customer you only address their issues

Re: Your 'app' could have been a webpage (so I fixed it for you)

#404

Post by carlosjobim »

Evidlo wrote: post #256
carlosjobim wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I invite down voters to make a reply explaining why users would prefer web apps to native apps, given the choice.

I'll bite (I did not downvote). Why should I have to go to an app store to see text/images with occasional buttons that make GET/POST requests? This is what most "apps" in the world do. The question should be reframed in the opposite direction: why do apps need to be siloed into multiple incompatible systems (appstores).

Because you can use the app offline, and because you have native UI controls, and better performance.

Re: Your 'app' could have been a webpage (so I fixed it for you)

#405

Post by vaylian »

adamwk wrote: post #402
jonahx wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We take tech literacy for granted, because it's like a dozen levels down fundamental to our entire field. But the tech illiterati exist, and they love apps. They "love apps" because apple and android have spent billions to break their mental models and convince them that "you use apps to do things on your phone". Literally. That's the extent of most people's understanding. So, sure, they "want" apps in the same sen…

This doesn’t really make sense. Apps were pretty popular immediately after decades of web usage. There are many reasons to prefer an app. Even on desktop; if I’m using a service enough throughout the day, I want a native app, not a website.

Web sites optimized for mobile weren't really a thing when the iPhone launched. That's why apps shined on smart phones. Web designers did eventually catch up with the hack but the trend towards apps was already too established at that point and people thought that you need an app to use a service.

Re: Your 'app' could have been a webpage (so I fixed it for you)

#407

Post by cindyllm »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #348
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, you can look at my GH profile, where I link to some open stuff, but I’m working on apps for a specialized demographic, right now, that don’t benefit from being HN hugged.

Oh, heck. I just realized this was a PWA booster challenge. Definitely nah. Life’s too short, and I’m already in the back nine. Sorry. I should have known better, and refrained from commenting at all. My bad. I thought it was a serious attempt at engagement. I enjoyed the post, and didn't really read the comments before posting. Have a great day! > Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, but the pig likes it.

[dead]

Re: Your 'app' could have been a webpage (so I fixed it for you)

#408

Post by johnecheck »

adamwk wrote: post #402
jonahx wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We take tech literacy for granted, because it's like a dozen levels down fundamental to our entire field. But the tech illiterati exist, and they love apps. They "love apps" because apple and android have spent billions to break their mental models and convince them that "you use apps to do things on your phone". Literally. That's the extent of most people's understanding. So, sure, they "want" apps in the same sen…

This doesn’t really make sense. Apps were pretty popular immediately after decades of web usage. There are many reasons to prefer an app. Even on desktop; if I’m using a service enough throughout the day, I want a native app, not a website.

There are many reasons to prefer an app, most of which are ways OS makers have crippled web apps for reasons that TOTALLY HAVE NOTHING TO DO with the fact that they get a 30% cut if the user chooses the native app.

Re: Your 'app' could have been a webpage (so I fixed it for you)

#409

Post by RetroTechie »

Izkata wrote: post #125
xtracto wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can’t understand how we got to this place with “app culture" Thie assertion is extremely funny to me. Historically we come from an "app culture". Back in the day, around 2000 or so, if you wanted some functionality, you ran an application. You ran software in your computer. Then on the early 2000s people started migrating their software web" , inventing "SaaS" (software as a service" . I remember my young self be…

Keep going further back, we had thin client terminals (not sure of the terminology, this was just before my time - I remember using them to look for books at our town library when I was a kid, green or orange text on a black screen, no mouse).

"Terminal" will do. These were text user interface (TUI) based browsers accessing a remote database, before web browsers appeared (or even the web itself). Fixed, very limited feature set, talking to database over plain LAN, a dedicated phone line or similar.

Possibly not even that: just a dumb terminal sending keystrokes & displaying text returned by the server.

Setups like this have been around almost as long as computers exist.

I recall that these replaced library catalogs in the form of drawers full of cards. Each card representing a book located elsewhere in the library (or available upon request from a central location). Man I'm old...

Re: Your 'app' could have been a webpage (so I fixed it for you)

#410

Post by c0nsumer »

atourgates wrote: post #397
c0nsumer wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks! Sorta kinda... But also different. The main idea was to solve the gap of how many trail systems have colored loops, or signed/colored loops made up of multiple "trails", and Trailforks (et al) has no concept of that. So the situation a user finds themselves in is being at a trail, with Trailforks up, wanting to follow the "Orange" loop (for example), and Trailforks doesn't show that. Hopefully the "Orange" lo…

That’s cool. Our local trail association did that. Well, actually we went from an old “become a member to download GPS files” to “go find the trails on Trailforks” But that was when Trailforks was more open and less locked down. We’ve discussed replacing Trailforks with something better/more under our control, but haven’t gotten around to it.

If you're interested, reach out. Depending on the scale of your system(s) and how much is already in OSM I might be able to spin one of these up for you without much work. (https://cramba.org is my local club, but I work with pretty much all of them in Michigan.)
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