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500MB download? Why didn't Wired Magazine use HTML5 for their iPad app?

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Re: 500MB download? Why didn't Wired Magazine use HTML5 for their iPad app?

#11

Post by xenophanes »

carterschonwald wrote: post #9
andreyf wrote: post #3

Because whatever software they use to layout the magazine can't export to HTML5. Since they're optimizing for time-to-market, they don't have time to retrain their designers to use different software, rewrite/extend it, or wait for the creators of that software to add export-to-HTML5 functionality, and so this was the most reasonable move. Give it some time, and they'll either move everything to HTML5 or a similar fo…

hrm, presumably whatever layout tool they use can export to pdf, and presumably it would be possible to then use Scribd's html5 tech (or license the right to use it) to then make it html 5?

Good idea, but maybe they started this project before that was announced, or they aren't bleeding edge enough to come up with that kind of solution.

Re: 500MB download? Why didn't Wired Magazine use HTML5 for their iPad app?

#12

Post by ajg1977 »

A better article would be "Why Wired Didn't use HTML5 for their iPad App". Since that probably wouldn't have the same link-bait worthy title, I'll write one here.

Why didn't Wired use HTML5?

1) a) it was built by Adobe who build it on Flash to begin with, b) the tools just aren't there yet. c) because of #2.

2) Why is the app 500MB? Because all the rich content (images, movies, audio) are bundled into the app so you do not need an internet connection to view it. I think we can all agree that downloading a "magazine" before you leave the house, then finding you can't view most of it, would be an uber fail.

If the app had been based on HTML5 it would have been a 'mare to cache all of the content locally for offline viewing. HTML5 does offer local storage, but not in a way that would allow sites to cache 500MB of content. And even if they could, do you really want to wait 20 minutes for that Pixar feature to download over 3G?

I suppose you could have created a native app with everything bundled locally and a UIWebView for rendering the HTML5 content, but really what do you gain from that?

Re: 500MB download? Why didn't Wired Magazine use HTML5 for their iPad app?

#13

Post by malnourish »

ajg1977 wrote: post #12

A better article would be "Why Wired Didn't use HTML5 for their iPad App". Since that probably wouldn't have the same link-bait worthy title, I'll write one here. Why didn't Wired use HTML5? 1) a) it was built by Adobe who build it on Flash to begin with, b) the tools just aren't there yet. c) because of #2. 2) Why is the app 500MB? Because all the rich content (images, movies, audio) are bundled into the app so you…

Less than 500MB? A serious question.

Re: 500MB download? Why didn't Wired Magazine use HTML5 for their iPad app?

#14

Post by voidfiles »

ajg1977 wrote: post #12

A better article would be "Why Wired Didn't use HTML5 for their iPad App". Since that probably wouldn't have the same link-bait worthy title, I'll write one here. Why didn't Wired use HTML5? 1) a) it was built by Adobe who build it on Flash to begin with, b) the tools just aren't there yet. c) because of #2. 2) Why is the app 500MB? Because all the rich content (images, movies, audio) are bundled into the app so you…

More testing needs to be done on the Application Cache(http://www.w3.org/TR/offline-webapps/#offline), but you know it might just be possible to cache video content, and if not now it might be possible in the future.

Re: 500MB download? Why didn't Wired Magazine use HTML5 for their iPad app?

#17

Post by petercooper »

Clause 3.3.1 states:

    Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++,
    or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine
This means that any "interactive" elements must either be written directly in Objective C, or you're confined entirely to WebKit.

If you don't fancy building new Objective C apps every time you roll out an issue of your magazine, you have two options.. do it entirely in WebKit or pre-render everything and spew it out with a simpler native reader. Looks like Wired took the latter option. I'd always wondered how magazines would get around this issue - guess we've found out.

Re: 500MB download? Why didn't Wired Magazine use HTML5 for their iPad app?

#18

Post by betageek »

The fundamental argument is flawed - I find it extremely hard to believe that anyone could create the same seamless experience as the iPad Wired app in HTML5. I certainly haven't seen any demo's that would imply it's possible, saying "you could do that in HTML 5" if very easy to say, a lot harder to do.

Maybe if the authors of these kinds of posts provided us with a demos I'd start taking these missives seriously.

Re: 500MB download? Why didn't Wired Magazine use HTML5 for their iPad app?

#19

Post by dirkstoop »

ajg1977 wrote: post #12

A better article would be "Why Wired Didn't use HTML5 for their iPad App". Since that probably wouldn't have the same link-bait worthy title, I'll write one here. Why didn't Wired use HTML5? 1) a) it was built by Adobe who build it on Flash to begin with, b) the tools just aren't there yet. c) because of #2. 2) Why is the app 500MB? Because all the rich content (images, movies, audio) are bundled into the app so you…

what do you gain from that?

- less control over interaction

- less snappy animation

- approval of some bloggers

- easier ports to fictive multi-touch tablets on other platforms

(Yeah, I understand your question was retorical, but I couldn't resist)

Re: 500MB download? Why didn't Wired Magazine use HTML5 for their iPad app?

#20

Post by petercooper »

ajg1977 wrote: post #12

A better article would be "Why Wired Didn't use HTML5 for their iPad App". Since that probably wouldn't have the same link-bait worthy title, I'll write one here. Why didn't Wired use HTML5? 1) a) it was built by Adobe who build it on Flash to begin with, b) the tools just aren't there yet. c) because of #2. 2) Why is the app 500MB? Because all the rich content (images, movies, audio) are bundled into the app so you…

If the app had been based on HTML5 it would have been a 'mare to cache all of the content locally for offline viewing. HTML5 does offer local storage, but not in a way that would allow sites to cache 500MB of content. And even if they could, do you really want to wait 20 minutes for that Pixar feature to download over 3G?

You can build an iPhone OS app that contains all of the data to be rendered by a Webkit UIWebView. Apps built on Phonegap use this technique, for example. It's possible to build a pre-packaged app that's basically a glorified Web browser with all of the content embedded inside as resources. The interactive elements could then have been made with JavaScript, rather than pre-rendered.

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