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by oakesm9 4468 days ago
Don't frameworks like this which try and emulate one platform very well get rid of the only advantage of building an app using web technologies, that it's cross platform. Apps using this will feel really out of place on Android and Windows Phone, and you'll end up spending lots of time porting the web app to those platforms if you want to support them properly.
3 comments
tfinniga 4468 days ago
> the only advantage of building an app using web technologies, that it's cross platform

There are other advantages of building an app using web technologies. Maybe you want to link to a store that doesn't pay Apple 30%. Maybe you want to control your own updates. Etc.

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CmonDev 4468 days ago
> Maybe you want to link to a store that doesn't pay Apple 30%

Isn't this explicitly forbidden on AppStore by Apple regardless of technology?

> Maybe you want to control your own updates.

This is what some games do, you don't need HTML/JS for that.

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tfinniga 4465 days ago
Right, that's an app store rule. However, if you've got an HTML 5 app you don't need to install it through the app store. For example, forecast.io.

I'm not sure what you're saying about games controlling their own updates. What I was talking about specifically is that a web app can update at any time, without the vetting process required of apps in the app store. My understanding was that app store apps couldn't download and execute new code.

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chrisdevereux 4468 days ago
And simultaneously, you loose the main benefit of a native app, which is being able to draw on the work of all the really smart people who work on the native frameworks.

I guess if you're doing something that browser technologies are better suited for than native code, it might be a more pleasant developer experience. It might be fun to build a meteor app with something like this, for example.

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marknutter 4468 days ago
Not necessarily. You could share the bulk of your code between platforms and use whatever mobile ui framework you want for each platform. They're just window dressing, after all. Compare this to native iOS and Android development, where very little if any of your code can be shared.
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