21–30 of 47 posts
Is there anyway to see your app on your phone, or emulate it, if you don't have a mac?
I far prefer the hybrid approach to the js-to-native approach Facebook and Appcelerator are taking. If you go fully native, you get the complete benefit of the SDK, Native API's, and performance that comes along with it. If you go hybrid native/html5 you get the flexibility, productivity, and reusability of js/html/css with the option to write custom native components as needed. With React Native (AFAIK) and Appceler…
I far prefer native gui backed by javascript. No question that a native gui is faster, more performant and more faithfull to the plateform you're actually developping on. I fail to see how one cannot acheive the full potential of native applications with js backed native gui.
There is no translation or compilation whatsoever,the javascript you write with Titanium is the javascript that will be running in the app,so there is no js-to-native, as js isn't compiled to objectiveC or Java. The cleverness of Titanium and co is to expose the native GUI as Phonegap expose native apis of the phone. Nothing prevents you from writing Titanium plugins like one is writing Phonegap plugin when the framework doesn't support this or that feature.
On the top of that Titanium exposes webviews if one really needs them. All the app doesn't have to be html and css. Menus,prompts,alerts and navigation can and should be native, something you can't do directly with phonegap and likes.
With projects like Titanium,there is very little reason to go back to shells like Phonegap that solve very little. For instance, I want my app to feel native but somehow one screen has to display a 3d model and I know webgl and it runs on my phone?
well i'll write most of my app with titanium and i'll just use the web tech I like ONLY when it is necessary. How isn't it using both techs(native and web) to their full potential? Furthermore I get to use all the js libs I like,such as Backbone or Underscore,or Momentjs or Q...
So AGAIN,since Titanium exposes a webview anyway,there is no need for things like Phonegap anymore. We need,however,more solutions with Titanium approach.And If you want to use a webview,well,there it is.
I far prefer the hybrid approach to the js-to-native approach Facebook and Appcelerator are taking. If you go fully native, you get the complete benefit of the SDK, Native API's, and performance that comes along with it. If you go hybrid native/html5 you get the flexibility, productivity, and reusability of js/html/css with the option to write custom native components as needed. With React Native (AFAIK) and Appceler…
Author here. I agree with a lot of what you say. One thing: "everythings hidden behind a thick layer of abstraction". Native does just that! Abstracts a bunch of stuff away for you. It's just a different abtraction (and one you'll need to write three times for iOS/Android/m.web). I also would like to see Facebook come back to the middle on this, a company that big could put a lot of resources into making those web to…
The problem with your framework,just like jQuery Mobile,SenchaTouch and the rest is that it doesn't look native by a long shot.
I just started playing with Steroids.js from Appgyver. Their Scanner app lets you demo your app on your phone as you go, which is a big plus. However, it uses Angular all over the place, which I'm not a huge fan of. Is there anyway to see your app on your phone, or emulate it, if you don't have a mac?
I'd love to build something like this though to do it more fully.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Author here. I agree with a lot of what you say. One thing: "everythings hidden behind a thick layer of abstraction". Native does just that! Abstracts a bunch of stuff away for you. It's just a different abtraction (and one you'll need to write three times for iOS/Android/m.web). I also would like to see Facebook come back to the middle on this, a company that big could put a lot of resources into making those web to…
Well,Facebook is putting resources on React native which is totally sane given the fact that they want their mobile app to use a native GUI. Javascript is just a sugar to make development cycles faster when supporting multiple mobile Os. The problem with your framework,just like jQuery Mobile,SenchaTouch and the rest is that it doesn't look native by a long shot.
There was a huge amount of time put into making it feel more native than any other hybrid approach so far, and that's what's important. I'm excited to start exploring webworkers and optimizations to really bridge that gap.
The only problem with these is that they never have good support for device features (GPS, NFC, Bluetooth, MMS, etc.). If you just need to build a static app that doesn't need any kind of mobile device feature, just build a web app.
The only problem with these is that they never have good support for device features (GPS, NFC, Bluetooth, MMS, etc.). If you just need to build a static app that doesn't need any kind of mobile device feature, just build a web app.
I agree. But thats a good thing if it's the only problem, in my eyes. I'd love to get funding to help further bridge the gap. Unfortunately, the browser creators on mobile all have incentive to keep their browsers limited compared to apps.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree. But thats a good thing if it's the only problem, in my eyes. I'd love to get funding to help further bridge the gap. Unfortunately, the browser creators on mobile all have incentive to keep their browsers limited compared to apps.
It has nothing to do with them having an incentive and everything to do with security.
Just want to mention a similar project http://touchstonejs.io/ haven't tried it yet
I've checked out quickly both Reapp and Touchstone. At the moment Reapp seems more mature: has better tooling (e.g. the command line tool to generate projects), uses Webpack, has quite big UI kit, etc...