One of the most fascinating presentations I attended last OSCON (you can read my review here) was entitled Building Mobile Apps with HTML, CSS and Javascript by Jonathan Stark. Jonathan is a consultant for mobile applications, a frequent conference speaker and often quoted when media speaks of trends for internet and mobile.
As outlined in his talk, the very first question when developing for mobile is: what type of application do I want my product to have? Currently, there are three different types: Native, Web and SMS. Choosing one is based on the purpose of your project as well as the target audience.
- Native: used when the aesthetics of the app is very important. Native is recommended when you want to access a core feature of the device, like a camera or GPS. And, because of their app stores, Native apps have the added advantages discoverability and visibility. The disadvantage with this type of application is fragmentation, i.e. you must write a different application for each device.
- Web: used when the focus is on distribution. Web apps are available on any device enabled with Internet access and there is no need to download. Considering testing and supporting, web applications have an advantage since they do not need to go through all the bureaucracy of the app store. Updates are also up and running instantly. The main disadvantage of web apps is sand-boxing.
- SMS: rare and only used in markets where internet access on the phone is not available or prohibitively expensive. SMS apps don’t offer discoverability.
Considering the above, Web applications are usually the best choice. They are cheaper to produce, more standardized and easier to distribute. According to Stark himself, “If you CAN build your app with HTML, CSS and JavaScript, then you probably should.”
In the second part of the talk, two interesting tools were demonstrated:
jQTouch
jQTouch is a jQuery plugin for mobile webkit browsers developed by David Kaneda. It Allows native animations, navigation and automatic customization of theme. Even if you will not actually using it in your application, it is a great tool for prototyping it.
To set jQTouch, you have to add in your page:
That means:
(1) adding hardcore structural design rules. This is required and you shouldn’t edit it
(2) add your theme style file. There are some options in jQTouch website or you can write your own
(3) initialize jQTouch after javascripts files are added. You can pass an object as a parameter with some values as icon and preloadImages
You can learn more from the jQTouch website or its documentation.
You can also see a quick overview in the video bellow:
PhoneGap
PhoneGap is a framework for building cross-platform mobile apps. Using it, you can still take advantage of core features in iPhone, Android, Palm Symbian and Blackberry. It’s been recognized as a game-changer and its source code has been downloaded more than 200,000 times! Web applications can now compete with native applications when functionality is the main requirement.
For more information, you can visit the PhoneGap website.
To learn how to install it, check the video bellow:
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