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No, I'm not going to download your bullshit app

tommorris.org

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Re: No, I'm not going to download your bullshit app

#91

Post by scarlson »

lutusp wrote: post #33
rtpg wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Another role they have is to prevent copying of content or links from one fiefdom to another. I have a hard time believing that considering the prevalence of the "share" button in apps. There is certainly a "walled garden" problem on iOS, with all the jailbroken nonsense linked to it, but on Android (don't know about MS phones) I can run whatever I want. The app store is just curation, not limitating. Granted there…

>> Another role they have is to prevent copying of content or links from one fiefdom to another. > I have a hard time believing that considering the prevalence of the "share" button in apps. But a "share" button in a dedicated app isn't remotely a hyperlink. A hyperlink only tells the reader about the destination, but a "share" button also tells the recipient about the source. >> I think this idea works best with rel…

> Sure -- paywalls are a classic example. As soon as we accept paywalls and read articles behind paywalls, we can't share content any more. These dedicated apps are like paywalls taken to the next level.

> But young, inexperienced people often don't see the problem with paywalls when compared to a public forum. The same logic applies to these dedicated apps -- they make it harder to share information. Their existence only serves the interests of the companies that create them.

Not exactly citation.

http://www.statista.com/statistics/238775/attitudes-towards-...

Which, coincidentally, is itself behind a paywall.

Re: No, I'm not going to download your bullshit app

#94

Post by hilko »

wmil wrote: post #75
downandout wrote: post #5

I agree for the most part with this article. I think the major problem is that apps are being developed that offer absolutely no advantage over viewing the website in a browser - in fact many offer disadvantages. This is what happens when a market crowded with some shockingly bad app developers is combined with ignorant executive mandates that companies must have apps simply to be able to say that they have them.

They're popular with people who take the subway. Think about it, you're sitting there for half an hour with no service. An app that pre-downloads all of a newspaper's stories is handy and easy to use.

Yes, but that market is covered by Instapaper and Pocket, among others.

Re: No, I'm not going to download your bullshit app

#96

Post by runn1ng »

I am probably reading different websites, but that is not what happens to me.

It is either

- full websites opens, maybe forcing me to resize but that's usually ok

- mobile webstite opens, which looks good and I can read the stuff as I intended

- mobile website opens and it is unusable because of stupid things (see: techchrunch and pagination)

maybe sometimes I have to click on "no, I don't want your app" pop-up, but it is never "you can't read it without the app".

Re: No, I'm not going to download your bullshit app

#97

Post by nodata »

wmil wrote: post #75
downandout wrote: post #5

I agree for the most part with this article. I think the major problem is that apps are being developed that offer absolutely no advantage over viewing the website in a browser - in fact many offer disadvantages. This is what happens when a market crowded with some shockingly bad app developers is combined with ignorant executive mandates that companies must have apps simply to be able to say that they have them.

They're popular with people who take the subway. Think about it, you're sitting there for half an hour with no service. An app that pre-downloads all of a newspaper's stories is handy and easy to use.

Most of the time the app does not predownload all of the content in advance though.

Re: No, I'm not going to download your bullshit app

#98

Post by baby »

Also happens on facebook when you want to read an article/watch a video someone posted. You click just to be redirect to a facebook App that allows you to read the article. It's only after a few posts that I got upset and found out that clicking CANCEL redirects you to the real website page.

Re: No, I'm not going to download your bullshit app

#99

Post by sdfjkl »

Funny how RSS feeds solved this problem years ago. You have a standard format for articles that can contain rich text and embedded images (and videos, if you must). Then you have a single reader app for all news sites that can offline cache content where needed. Hell, you can even synchronize what articles you've read between devices.

Of course in a world where everything must be plastered with flashing advertising banners and justified with pageviews, the wonderful RSS idea was quickly crippled through "teaser" articles that forced you to visit a website to read the whole thing and be subjected to the same mess of bad layouts, poorly chosen fonts and distracting advertising. The "download our rubbish app" overlays are merely another wart on top of this terrible state of things.

Re: No, I'm not going to download your bullshit app

#100

Post by sergeykish »

Web applications aren't different either.

1. Go to website. 2. Be told you aren’t allowed to read the website. 3. Be redirected to /badbrowser or see nothing. 4. Enable JavaScript. 5. Wait while application is loading over your temperamental, expensive EDGE connection. 6. Try to read content through broken layout, blocks floating around, viewport half reduced, overly small or big fonts. 7. Get back home to write proxy converting apps to content.

It is content vs app war. Content could be red, shown, styled, stored, indexed, processed in all different ways. By contrast app limits our abilities to its implementation details.

Applications should respectfully augment content, not trying replace it.

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