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An HTML5 app turned native in 10 minutes with PhoneGap Build?

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Re: An HTML5 app turned native in 10 minutes with PhoneGap Build?

#41

Post by pistle »

girvo wrote: post #35
wsc981 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this will stay a dream for a very long while. If Xamarin would create controls based on the lowest common denominator of each platform (with regards to functionality), the capabilities of said controls would be very limited indeed, likely only useful for the most basic of apps.

Mmm, yeah that's a good point, I didn't think that quite through, and to be honest I've not used Xamarin myself. How does it handle the UI layer? Is it re-done for each platform, using C# but with the Android UI and iPhone UI classes?

It's up to you, but mostly, yeah, you write out as much into the shared code area (C#) as possible then, write up/wire up your UI layer using native layout tooling. How far you go to using stuff like iOS storyboards or just doing code-based implementations (C#) is up to you. You have the flexibility.

This yields a massive reduction in time and cost associated with managing multiple code bases while holding onto the native experience.

It's not quite as fluid as html+css, but you don't hear nearly the performance-horror stories.

Re: An HTML5 app turned native in 10 minutes with PhoneGap Build?

#42

Post by rip747 »

gchokov wrote: post #30

.. or just check http://www.icenium.com/ which has integrated IDE and does all this without the manual hassle of uploading files.

I really don't like the fact that they tout using VS to create and publish apps right there on the homepage however you have to purchase the ultimate package at $119 a month in order to do this. you would think that every package would include this feature if its their main advertised feature.

Re: An HTML5 app turned native in 10 minutes with PhoneGap Build?

#44

Post by tlarkworthy »

codehaha wrote: post #43

"But you should know that the webview used by phonegap is generally one generation older than the current mobile browser provided with the device." Is that right? Is web browser used by WebView a different thing that a default Android browser?

I have tried cocoonJS and phonegap side by side with my app and cocoonJS was much faster, however it was buggy so I went for phonegap. I didn't really notice a different speed between chrome and phonegap, but the lack of address bar at the top made the graphics much nicer with phonegap over viewing it in Chrome.

I can tell the browser used by Phonegap is not as good as Chrome. It doesn't popup the keyboard on text fields and things like that, which the Galaxy S2 don't do either.

I am hoping the bugs in Coocoon get fixed as that has the potential to be the best option.

Re: An HTML5 app turned native in 10 minutes with PhoneGap Build?

#45

Post by Sephiroth87 »

codehaha wrote: post #43

"But you should know that the webview used by phonegap is generally one generation older than the current mobile browser provided with the device." Is that right? Is web browser used by WebView a different thing that a default Android browser?

Not sure about Android, but it definitely is on iOS, since you don't have the NITRO javascript engine...

Re: An HTML5 app turned native in 10 minutes with PhoneGap Build?

#46

Post by Sephiroth87 »

jheriko wrote: post #33

don't be mystified. all of this comes from your lack of knowledge and experience of native development. if it works in a webview then making a 'native' app out of it is not going to be complicated - you make something with a webview and the html or whatever other source data in the package. its not magic, its not even hard, you just happen to not know about how it works... if you are interested this is easy to fix wi…

Yeah, that's my biggest issue with these webapps, people who should not be doing this stuff is doing it, and have no idea what they're doing... I'm an iOS dev and still knew how the android sdk version stuff works...

Re: An HTML5 app turned native in 10 minutes with PhoneGap Build?

#47

Post by posabsolute »

codehaha wrote: post #43

"But you should know that the webview used by phonegap is generally one generation older than the current mobile browser provided with the device." Is that right? Is web browser used by WebView a different thing that a default Android browser?

It absolutely is in android 4.2. After that it depends on the android version.

My app have perfect smooth transitions in the chrome browser. yet in the phonegap webview animations are slower & I have rendering bugs I never saw in chrome.

Can't find direct sources right now, but it's fixed in android 4.4, you get chrome

http://www.mobilexweb.com/blog/android-4-4-kitkat-browser-ch...

Re: An HTML5 app turned native in 10 minutes with PhoneGap Build?

#48

Post by johnyzee »

girvo wrote: post #18

Now, this is pie-in-the-sky thinking, but I'd love to see something like Xamarin, that uses JS (for logic) and HTML/subset of CSS (for presentation) that builds cross-platform using native widgets. Hey, one can dream, can't they?

https://www.ludei.com/

Converts an HTML5 canvas-based app to use native graphics routines. I haven't used it but been following it for over a year since the approach seems promising.

BTW, a similar thing exists for the ImpactJS game engine (Ejecta), but it only converts to iOS: http://impactjs.com/ejecta

Actually I would love to hear if anyone has experience with either of these.

Re: An HTML5 app turned native in 10 minutes with PhoneGap Build?

#49

Post by camus2 »

rfnslyr wrote: post #37
tsunamifury wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, what you are doing is likely not that complex and just a series of forms and buttons, which jqm is fine for. If you are doing anything truly interface heavy and complex, the hard parts either having nothing to do with jqm or can't be done in jqm smoothly. And your single codebase likely has a UI and ux that feels wrong on all platforms. (I built two of the largest US banks mobile apps using Yui and jqm. )

Do you talk like this in real life to people? If I told you about an app I was making, you would tell me its garbage, then brag about what you built? Unless you've actually been in my environment and used my app that we've been developing straight for the past year , kindly fuck off.

unless you actually have a product to show, it's his word against yours. Devs always brag about how fast their html apps are, these "fast" apps are nowhere to be seen, or do very little things that require performance.

Re: An HTML5 app turned native in 10 minutes with PhoneGap Build?

#50

Post by wil421 »

posabsolute wrote: post #29
wil421 wrote: post #24

I really like the idea of these multi-platform bridges. But in reality the ones that I have seen suffered from being terribly slow. The last app demo that I saw using phonegap had 3-5 second loading bars come up every time a button was pressed. This was on Android so I am not sure if the platform was to blame or not.

While phonegap is a bridge between a lot of functionalities, not all features has been created equals. The app is only has good has the html5 app behind it. On android it's tricky, we just did a test run for our mobile app & we have weird issues with a lot is samsung phones while other phones perform perfectly. We also decided to remove animations on android for all phones below android 4.2 because the browser was to…

Interesting, the slow demo was using a Samsung phone and had many animations. Next time I am going to do some comparisons on different manufacturers and with/with out animations.

The app wasnt one I was involved in so I didnt have chance to mess around with it.

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