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Has the Native Vs. HTML5 Mobile Debate Changed?

itwbennett writes: The tools available to developers who need to build an application once and deploy everywhere have exploded. Frameworks like famo.us, Ionic, PhoneGap, Sencha Touch, Appcelerator, Xamarin, and others are reducing the grunt work and improving the overall quality of web based mobile applications dramatically. The benefits of a build once, deploy everywhere platform are pretty obvious, but are they enough to make up for the hits to user experience?

4 of 161 comments (clear)

  1. Least common denominator by captaindomon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The problem with frameworks is that they lower the end product to the common denominator. Instead of having an app for each platform that exploits the strengths of that platform, you end up with whatever you can manage to get to work on every platform. That works for simple apps like news websites maybe, but not when you want to integrate tightly with device hardware and how the established user base is used to interacting with their chosen platform.

    --
    Just because I can hook a shark from a boat, I do no offer to wrestle it in the water.
    1. Re:Least common denominator by holostarr · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You can built incredible apps and UI using PhoneGap. Browse the list below and you'll be surprised how many popular apps are built using nothing more than Javascript and HTML5:

      http://phonegap.com/app/

  2. Re: No by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    More specifically, HTML5/JS/CSS still give really shitty developer and user experiences compared to native apps. That has always been the case, and still remains true. That is why the debate has not changed.

  3. why not a web page? by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So if you need a framework so you can pretend to have a native version of the application ... why not just focus on having a webpage instead of a shitty application which is just a web page?

    This sounds like lazy people who want to claim they have an app, when all they're doing is pointing to a web page.

    I can view your damned web page on my own.

    Honestly, this is why I've started getting away from apps ... because as often as not they're badly written, and contain a fraction of the information I can get from the website, but still insist on having access to my contact list and messages.

    Most people writing apps care more about invading my privacy and selling ads than actually providing me anything useful.

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    Lost at C:>. Found at C.