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> One of the downsides of Webview based apps is that it's harder to align with the native OS look and feel. Is this really a problem though? It doesn't seem cr

> One of the downsides of Webview based apps is that it's harder to align with the native OS look and feel. Is this really a problem though? It doesn't seem crazy to want your app to just look the same on all platforms.

Grustaf 9y ago
No, it doesn't seem crazy, but it's also not really what users want. Android users probably expect native Android behaviour, iOS users definitely expect native iOS widgets, anything else will feel quite off.
- vegasje 9y ago
  This is very true when it comes to consumer apps, but in our experience businesses prefer a more unified experience for their users--it minimizes the training effort.
- zerkten 9y ago
  I guess it depends on the app. Google's own apps on iOS don't strike me as feeling very native. I would think they'll get closer to nailing the Android behaviour. In a way these toolkits fill a space like Electron on the desktop where the developer won't, or can't, for all in on a native experience. As someone who built some mobile apps with web technology I can see how Flutter would have an appeal because going into the project you've already given up on the native experience. There are still (unfortunately?) a world of marketing-driven apps with the brand overriding design choices which would be suited to this. Tools like Xamarin probably have a lead for line-of-business apps inside companies due to the MS ecosystem integration, but I could see people choosing Flutter for these apps if it's easy to build and maintain apps. None of this changes the fact that for best-of-breed apps in a public store you'll need to use the native toolkits.
  - Grustaf 9y ago
    > Google's own apps on iOS don't strike me as feeling very native. That is true, but does anyone actually like the feel of google's iOS apps? I personally think they're awful, but the content they present is so useful that people use them anyway.
    - zerkten 9y ago
      I don't disagree, but they have reasonably good performance which covers a lot of sins.
      - LeoNatan25 9y ago
        Performance is not everything. I expect iOS apps to behave and look like iOS apps, not just run fast. Google's software looks like fisher-price third-rate crap on iOS.
      - Grustaf 9y ago
        Sure, they don't stutter and they serve a crazy amount of very useful information.
  - chriswarbo 9y ago
    This reminds me of switching from Windows to Linux in the noughties: one of the complaints about Linux not being 'suitable for average users' was the lack of consistency between GTK/Gnome and Qt/KDE applications, and a lot of effort was spend on compatibility layers and such. When I looked at a friend's Windows XP installation, it struck me that pretty much every application they used had a different UI system: WinAmp, Firefox, Opera, Windows Media Player, MSN Messenger, ...

Grustaf 9y ago

No, it doesn't seem crazy, but it's also not really what users want. Android users probably expect native Android behaviour, iOS users definitely expect native iOS widgets, anything else will feel quite off.

vegasje 9y ago
This is very true when it comes to consumer apps, but in our experience businesses prefer a more unified experience for their users--it minimizes the training effort.
zerkten 9y ago
I guess it depends on the app. Google's own apps on iOS don't strike me as feeling very native. I would think they'll get closer to nailing the Android behaviour. In a way these toolkits fill a space like Electron on the desktop where the developer won't, or can't, for all in on a native experience. As someone who built some mobile apps with web technology I can see how Flutter would have an appeal because going into the project you've already given up on the native experience. There are still (unfortunately?) a world of marketing-driven apps with the brand overriding design choices which would be suited to this. Tools like Xamarin probably have a lead for line-of-business apps inside companies due to the MS ecosystem integration, but I could see people choosing Flutter for these apps if it's easy to build and maintain apps. None of this changes the fact that for best-of-breed apps in a public store you'll need to use the native toolkits.
- Grustaf 9y ago
  > Google's own apps on iOS don't strike me as feeling very native. That is true, but does anyone actually like the feel of google's iOS apps? I personally think they're awful, but the content they present is so useful that people use them anyway.
  - zerkten 9y ago
    I don't disagree, but they have reasonably good performance which covers a lot of sins.
    - LeoNatan25 9y ago
      Performance is not everything. I expect iOS apps to behave and look like iOS apps, not just run fast. Google's software looks like fisher-price third-rate crap on iOS.
    - Grustaf 9y ago
      Sure, they don't stutter and they serve a crazy amount of very useful information.
- chriswarbo 9y ago
  This reminds me of switching from Windows to Linux in the noughties: one of the complaints about Linux not being 'suitable for average users' was the lack of consistency between GTK/Gnome and Qt/KDE applications, and a lot of effort was spend on compatibility layers and such. When I looked at a friend's Windows XP installation, it struck me that pretty much every application they used had a different UI system: WinAmp, Firefox, Opera, Windows Media Player, MSN Messenger, ...