Re: [CodeMash] Native vs. HTML5

[Robert Casto]

I think there are different types of applications that demand native development and others that do not. The types of applications Andy Glover creates typically need native development because the UI is everything. It is what sets the app apart and makes users to want to use it.

Many enterprises though don't have to worry about attracting users. They are already there, part of their ecosystem. For them, an HTML5 interface may be plenty. The goal is to provide mobile access to some feature that is locked in a browser or other interface. They want to keep development costs down and the UI's you can build look nice enough for a portal application.

Personally, I am building an HTML5 mobile app that provides information about products. It could run as a web app but if there is no network, I want it to access a local database on the phone. The UI looks really nice, and it is speedy enough on both iPhone and Android. It is a network-bound application though so the UI is the least of my worries.

And if I had to hire Android and iOS developers to build the application, it would be cost prohibitive. A UI developer and myself have been able to build it and the amount of time we have spent is small in comparison. We also have a lot of flexibility in choosing technology since many of the Javascript libraries will work on the mobile browsers. It is definitely a web app entirely on the phone, but the main this is it does what users want and doesn't look bad either.

Robert Casto

On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 10:06 AM, dianne marsh <dma...@srtsolutions.com> wrote:

Andy Glover posted about his experience at CodeMash and included some discussion that occurred in his talk, "HTML5 and the Great Mobile Debate".

I thought that this might make an interesting CodeMash google group question, if there are still people hanging around here after the flurry of ticket exchange and ride/room share emails!

Anyhow, read his post -- and leave comments there or start a discussion here!

http://ht.ly/h6jGz

Cheers!

Dianne

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Robert Casto
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[Parag Joshi]

I think Robert touched on this in his response but its largely dependent on what you want the app to do. The first thing I would do is get the list of capabilities nailed down and then ask for v2 and v3 requirements. Maybe v1 is possible in HTML but v2 or v3 requirements are only possible or better served by going native. Without a list like this there really cannot be a debate. 

It's not what is trending but rather what makes sense for my app. I would rather use xamarin or comparable products that use the native engine than html5 as no matter how hard you try a web browser will never compete with a native app in terms of speed of execution. 

We saw this similar thought process when it used to come to deciding what technology a client app should be built in. 

There used to be a great push to go web because everyone is going web even though the app had separate internal and external screens. Makes debugging a whole lot easier if you separate admin or management functions from customer functionality rather than using if then else if else if else if end. 

Build core set of common services and let each UI serve its purpose. 

This html5 popularity pretty much seems identical to the go web thought process. 

Html5 is great if you are behind in getting to market and need a v1 app just to compete. But I would always plan for v2 and v3 to be native or xamarin like. If your core services are encapsulated changing ui's shouldn't be a problem. Let the app garner popularity and then swap out the HTML portion with a native look and feel. 

Objective c and java development is not hard. It just takes getting used to. 

Regards

Parag

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