Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by flatline3 5112 days ago
> And now you can see why JavaScript was made a first-class language for the WinRT (not Windows RT) API - content-consumption via touch is now going to be a big feature for Win 8 and nothing serves this better than HTML5/JavaScript.

I'm not sure how you reached that conclusion. I race for a native app when it comes to content consumption, and native is also required to provide the requisite stream DRM used by Netflix, HBO GO, etc.

Heck, I wish Netflix would hire a better development team and stop trying to do their app in HTML. It's poorly designed and frustrating to use.
1 comments
photon137 5112 days ago
That's because usually there is a browser-based layer which runs that HTML/JavaScript.

Here it is Metro UI (via HTML5) powered using JavaScript (running natively on Windows) - equivalent to a C++ native app with a Metro UI.

link
flatline3 5112 days ago
I don't really understand why this provides a better environment for producing top-quality media applications over the platforms on the market today.
link
photon137 5112 days ago
It doesn't - it provides a perfectly equivalent platform.

In all cases, it will be the codecs registered with the OS that would be used - so the quality of the media cannot be better/worse.

Where this differs is from a developer perspective - you don't have to learn a non-standard UI API (XAML/WinForms/MFC/COM/ATL/Qt/Gtk/Swing/awt/whatever) or a language you're not familiar with (C#/C++/Java - pick any). But you can be sure that the experience will be precisely the same - no API hacks to achieve something specific, nothing at all.

link
flatline3 5112 days ago
It's perfectly equivalently poor.

What makes those platform APIs useful are all the tools they provide to simplify the creation of great, well-performing UIs that exceed the user's expectations.

link
photon137 5111 days ago
Well, MS provides Visual Studio for this - which isn't a bad toolchain, in my opinion.
link