The Decline of the Mobile Web • Hacker News Board

Re: The Decline of the Mobile Web

#151

Post by Mikeb85 » Tue, Apr 08, 2014, 1:58 AM UTC

Ingon wrote: post #139

While performance is often cited as the main reason for having a native app, I think that one of the biggest reasons to prefer native apps is usability. More concretely I can see the following: - A web app/site is often an app within an app. This means that what usually works as an interface to this device is no longer true, or rather different. The gestures are different, how the app is treating them is different an…

Your browser can cache a web app to be used offline. Plenty of Chrome apps are packaged this way. Firefox also has an option to do this, and Firefox OS can work without an internet connection. An HTML5 app is just source code obtained from a website that's run through a VM, and may or may not connect to a back-end (usually does though).

The problem isn't the web, it's how many web developers choose to use it. If you want to really know how powerful the web is, check out many of the WebGL demos and game demos out there...

Re: The Decline of the Mobile Web

#152

Post by techscruggs » Tue, Apr 08, 2014, 2:03 AM UTC

cousin_it wrote: post #133

habosa wrote: post #108

I think Facebook is an instructive example here. They tried for a long time to make their native app (for Android, anyway) just a wrapper over the mobile web client, but they could never get the performance all the way there. They went native and have seen great results. They resisted as long as they could but eventually the products had to diverge. I'd say 80% of developers who choose native do so for performance, a…

Sure, native apps have better performance on mobile. But the same thing is true on desktop, yet the web somehow stays popular on desktop. That suggests that the behavior of platform owners (Apple and Google) is the real reason for the popularity of apps on mobile, and performance is just a distraction.

Gmail is faster than any native email client I have ever used.

Re: The Decline of the Mobile Web

#153

Post by marcosdumay » Tue, Apr 08, 2014, 2:03 AM UTC

rschmitty wrote: post #2

Am I in the minority that I don't want an app for every. bloody. webpage. I visit?

I think I have more apps on my phone than I ever visited sites with it.

If I want to navigate on the web, I'll use a desktop. Only if I can't, and in that order, I'll try a laptop, tablet, or phone. The interface gets worse the more portable the device is, and at the phone extreme my usage is quite restricted to small apps, with few, to-the-point functionality or simple games.

Re: The Decline of the Mobile Web

#154

Post by Mikeb85 » Tue, Apr 08, 2014, 2:11 AM UTC

tieTYT wrote: post #137

I think this article is about web sites, but if you're a game developer, it feels like google and apple are actively trying to kill off the web option, or at least don't care about it. It's easy to find complaints about how audio is terrible in HTML5 on mobile devices, but its been that way for years. I still don't think you can play two sounds simultaneously on mobile safari (eg: background music and a sound effect)…

Audio has also been spotty on Linux for years. I know that at least Chrome can play 2 sounds at once (music + sound effects in a game)...

Re: The Decline of the Mobile Web

#155

Post by AznHisoka » Tue, Apr 08, 2014, 2:16 AM UTC

I think OP is living in a bubble. I don't use more than a few apps everyday, and I do almost 90% of my online reading in my desktop. I spend 8 hours a day in front of a computer at work. The only time I have to poke around with my smartphone is after work, and a hour of that is spent in a subway with no online connection.

I mean, I guess if you have FU money, don't work for the man, and travel to wherever you want with WiFi, sure, you probably spend more time poking with apps than you do in a desktop.

Re: The Decline of the Mobile Web

#156

Post by inthewoods » Tue, Apr 08, 2014, 2:22 AM UTC

ChuckMcM wrote: post #25

It seems 'mobile apps' are like Flash was in the 90's, basically a way to take full control over the UX to achieve some particular goal. Given the preponderance of such apps it seems as if home screens are due for a make over that looks more like iPod music libraries than 'desktop.' Basically something which supports dozens if not hundreds of apps on a device.

I think Flash was created in the 90s to make up for the lack of interface possibilities on the web. In contrast, mobile apps are created to both enhance the user experience and focus the user on a smaller functional set. Flash and, later, Silverlight, were often (but not always) used to bring a Windows/Desktop-like experience to the web. Mobile apps are different and that might be why they are more sticky, at the moment, than Flash apps ever were. That is, they're a response to simplicity where Flash never was.

On your home screens idea - I think you could make the home screen over and it won't change the fact that most people use a handful of apps regularly (every day), another handful less frequently (once a week to once a month) and then a large pool of apps that never get looked at again.

Re: The Decline of the Mobile Web

#157

Post by Turing_Machine » Tue, Apr 08, 2014, 2:25 AM UTC

rschmitty wrote: post #2

Am I in the minority that I don't want an app for every. bloody. webpage. I visit?

Nagging me to install the app before I've even seen the site is a sure way to get me to leave and never return.

If you simply must toss up one of those uber-annoying "Please install our app! PLEAAAAAAAAASE!" popovers, at least do me the courtesy of letting me look at a couple of pages on the site first. How am I supposed to know that I want your app when I haven't even seen your site?

Otherwise my answer is going to be not just "no" but "HELL, NO!"

Re: The Decline of the Mobile Web

#158

Post by mgkimsal » Tue, Apr 08, 2014, 2:40 AM UTC

inthewoods wrote: post #156

ChuckMcM wrote: post #25

It seems 'mobile apps' are like Flash was in the 90's, basically a way to take full control over the UX to achieve some particular goal. Given the preponderance of such apps it seems as if home screens are due for a make over that looks more like iPod music libraries than 'desktop.' Basically something which supports dozens if not hundreds of apps on a device.

I think Flash was created in the 90s to make up for the lack of interface possibilities on the web. In contrast, mobile apps are created to both enhance the user experience and focus the user on a smaller functional set. Flash and, later, Silverlight, were often (but not always) used to bring a Windows/Desktop-like experience to the web. Mobile apps are different and that might be why they are more sticky, at the mom…

"I think Flash was created in the 90s to make up for the lack of interface possibilities on the web. In contrast, mobile apps are created to both enhance the user experience and focus the user on a smaller functional set."

Do you somehow think Flash people didn't believe Flash was being used to "enhance the user experience"?

Re: The Decline of the Mobile Web

#159

Post by mistermumble » Tue, Apr 08, 2014, 2:40 AM UTC

Turing_Machine wrote: post #157

rschmitty wrote: post #2

Am I in the minority that I don't want an app for every. bloody. webpage. I visit?

Nagging me to install the app before I've even seen the site is a sure way to get me to leave and never return. If you simply must toss up one of those uber-annoying "Please install our app! PLEAAAAAAAAASE!" popovers, at least do me the courtesy of letting me look at a couple of pages on the site first. How am I supposed to know that I want your app when I haven't even seen your site ? Otherwise my answer is going to…

Agree.

http://www.jwz.org/blog/2013/05/i-dont-want-your-fucking-app...

Re: The Decline of the Mobile Web

#160

Post by inthewoods » Tue, Apr 08, 2014, 2:42 AM UTC

mgkimsal wrote: post #158

inthewoods wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Flash was created in the 90s to make up for the lack of interface possibilities on the web. In contrast, mobile apps are created to both enhance the user experience and focus the user on a smaller functional set. Flash and, later, Silverlight, were often (but not always) used to bring a Windows/Desktop-like experience to the web. Mobile apps are different and that might be why they are more sticky, at the mom…

"I think Flash was created in the 90s to make up for the lack of interface possibilities on the web. In contrast, mobile apps are created to both enhance the user experience and focus the user on a smaller functional set." Do you somehow think Flash people didn't believe Flash was being used to "enhance the user experience"?

Oh I think they were - but they were referencing desktop.