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Unfortunately, I don't think I've ever used a web app that feels anywhere as good as a native app. You can feel it in every interaction. You say "a bit of scro

Unfortunately, I don't think I've ever used a web app that feels anywhere as good as a native app. You can feel it in every interaction. You say "a bit of scrolling hesitation". I say that... and janky button taps... and broken back/forward navigation... and browser chrome always getting in the way... and random divs constantly getting selected along with text... and mistakenly-tapped links taking me who-knows-where... etc. Plus: if the developer decides to shut down their web app, it's actually done, forever, with no recourse.

mark242 10y ago
What you're seeing are apps that aren't optimized for mobile. Once you start moving application logic, network IO, and anything that doesn't involve the DOM off the main rendering thread via a cached ServiceWorker, mobile web app performance jumps by an order of magnitude. Every single performance issue that you're talking about can be seen in native apps; check Twitter, for example, or Facebook. There is a definite lag there caused by the network sync being front-and-center. That's unavoidable, but for an app like Vesper where you're not looking at a huge data transfer, running the sync in the background is absolutely viable.
- smilespray 10y ago
  Your "very, very easy" proposal just got a little more complex. For instance, ServiceWorkers only work in Chrome and Firefox, which means no iOS support for your web app. I currently work on a web app written with AngularJS and PouchDB. We're constantly facing issues that would have been easy to deal with in a native app. I'd argue it's just as hard writing a good web app as writing a good native app. It's just a different set of challenges.