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Apache Cordova: after 10 months, I won't using it anymore

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Re: Apache Cordova: after 10 months, I won't using it anymore

#72
post #2

So I was reading this, and the only things that kept repeating in my mind were "Ionic, Crosswalk, Webworkers, Ionic, Crosswalk, Webworkers..." (Yes I know Crosswalk is Android only, but it works wonders).

"To bundle Chrome, you will see a small (~10-15MB) size increase in your Android Apps." I wonder what kind of apps they run that make them call 10-15mb call "small".

One game I play is 500mb. A few people complain about it, but honestly, with today's flash sizes, who cares?

Re: Apache Cordova: after 10 months, I won't using it anymore

#73
post #62

Can anyone using Xamarin chime in as to whether the situation there is better?

Xamarin and Titanium compile to native code and use native components, so they wouldn't have the same problems as a JavaScript and HTML solution like Cordova does. Particularly re performance since they don't run in the web view widgets like Cordova.

Re: Apache Cordova: after 10 months, I won't using it anymore

#74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For basic application there's no need for very deep knowledge of the platform, so you can find people who know iOS and Android equally well and just write two different apps. As Cordova might introduce more problems than advantages, writing two identical apps might actually be faster, if app is not that huge. And native fast responsive app with smooth animations might earn you more, than HTML container. I wrote a sim…

> but you have to write a lots of spaghetti-code What? As someone who does a LOT of vanilla JS, what do you consider "spaghetti code"?

"vanilla spaghetti" might be a new term we can start using :) leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth!

Re: Apache Cordova: after 10 months, I won't using it anymore

#75
post #50
post #39

For doing database work in a separate thread, you used to be able to access WebSQL from a web worker on both iOS and Android, but sadly that's been dropped as of Chrome 39 and iOS 9: https://github.com/pouchdb/pouchdb/issues/2806 Also I don't believe you can use the SQLite Plugin in a web worker either: https://github.com/litehelpers/Cordova-sqlite-storage/issues... Luckily, you can still access IndexedDB from a web…

If background data access was really removed in newer browser version, than just WOW.

Well, WebSQL was deprecated in favor of IndexedDB. LocalStorage is also quasi-deprecated (synchronous access == problems), which is why it's not available from a worker either.

Re: Apache Cordova: after 10 months, I won't using it anymore

#76
post #28

On performance, the new WKWebView on iOS (with Nitro JS + GPU rendering, including WebGL), and the Chromium webview on Android 5.0+ (or Crosswalk for Android 4.0+, similar features all round), radically changes the performance story. It's almost identical to the system browsers now. Facebook's comments about HTML5 were back in the dark ages when the webviews generally used horribly slow software rendering and didn't…

Does WKWebView work with file:/// urls needed by Cordova?

No, but there is a drop-in plugin that adds a webserver and converts your webview to WKWebView: https://github.com/Telerik-Verified-Plugins/WKWebView

It has a few limitations, but it's quite nice for games.

Re: Apache Cordova: after 10 months, I won't using it anymore

#77
post #28

On performance, the new WKWebView on iOS (with Nitro JS + GPU rendering, including WebGL), and the Chromium webview on Android 5.0+ (or Crosswalk for Android 4.0+, similar features all round), radically changes the performance story. It's almost identical to the system browsers now. Facebook's comments about HTML5 were back in the dark ages when the webviews generally used horribly slow software rendering and didn't…

Does WKWebView work with file:/// urls needed by Cordova?

Check out https://github.com/Telerik-Verified-Plugins/WKWebView

Re: Apache Cordova: after 10 months, I won't using it anymore

#78
post #17

This is a very bad article. The real problems with Cordova are: * Core functionality is broken between releases. If you ask in the IRC support channel, they will even tell you not to update if things work well! What if I need a new feature? * Documentation is absurdly horrible or even plain wrong. I have been told several times to refer to the source code to find out how something works. * If you face any problem, ch…

These right here are the problems with Cordova.

Cordova is not a replacement to build native apps. Its a tool that allows you to build really good apps that works on all platforms.

My app[1] wouldn't have exist without Cordova. And based the feedback, most users are fine with it.

I have yet to find a solid native app that is available on all platforms, not belongs to a big company or a startup with huge funding, and made by 1/2 developers.

[1]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.premii.hn

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hacker-news-yc/id713733435?m...

http://hn.premii.com/ (HTML5)

Re: Apache Cordova: after 10 months, I won't using it anymore

#79
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"To bundle Chrome, you will see a small (~10-15MB) size increase in your Android Apps." I wonder what kind of apps they run that make them call 10-15mb call "small".

One game I play is 500mb. A few people complain about it, but honestly, with today's flash sizes, who cares?

Don't judge about others based only your used hardware! There are a lot (!) people with devices out there that only have 10MB storage left and can't install a app because it's size is bigger than that. ;)

Re: Apache Cordova: after 10 months, I won't using it anymore

#80

FUD. Ever heard of WebSQL for storing your data? After 10 months, you should have been able to work around nearly anything you mention in your article.

WebSQL is pretty much dead (which is unfortunate, and you should direct stern words towards Mozilla), so relying on that would be pretty risky.

Just use https://github.com/mozilla/localForage and be happy ... ;)
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