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> But the way it is today, the web works. Does it really? What would you hold up as an example of a powerful web app with significant usage? All the major pla

> But the way it is today, the web works. Does it really? What would you hold up as an example of a powerful web app with significant usage? All the major players these days (like Facebook) get the overwhelming majority of their traffic through their native mobile app, not through their web app. The web's primary stronghold is in publishing platforms (news, articles, etc...), which are not really what you'd call "apps" and indeed they are the one thing the web was actually built for and good at - static(-ish) content.

twe4ked 9y ago
> What would you hold up as an example of a powerful web app with significant usage? Google Docs suite perhaps?
- kllrnohj 9y ago
  Maybe? Hard to tell since Google Docs on Android at least is a native app not a wrapper around the website and I'd assume that's true on iOS as well. Similarly Microsoft Office on mobile is a native app, and I can't seem to find good stats for how Office on Windows/Mac compares to the Docs suite on desktop but my guess is that it's not a pretty comparison for Google Docs...
TekMol 9y ago
What would you hold up as an example of a powerful web app with significant usage? The web as a whole is one gigantic web app that works wonderfully. I am using the web all day and for pretty much everything. HN and the linked articles for news. Trello, Github, Upwork for collaboration. FB and Meetup to find an save events I want to attend. Booking.com to find and book hotels. My local railway site for train travel. My local cab site for cab rides. My local public transport site for bus/subway rides. Google flights for flight planning.... I could continue forever. Whenever I need something, I find it on Google and just use it.
hutzlibu 9y ago
"All the major players these days (like Facebook) get the overwhelming majority of their traffic through their native mobile app" Source? And I do not think, there is a sharp line between WebApp and Website. You could say, we are using one right now (even though very primitive) discussing right now - more than "static(-ish) content" Also most of the other parts of the Web are not really static anymore - highly dynamic, live interaction between the whole world! That's pretty awesome if you think about it. So the Web works and the web is faaaar away from static documents linking each other, what was it's origin. And with real webapps - well, I believe the big ones are about to come. The underlying technology to really make them usefull, is just about to become stable.
- kllrnohj 9y ago
  > Source? https://expandedramblings.com/index.php/facebook-mobile-app-statistics/ https://expandedramblings.com/index.php/facebook-mobile-app-... Over 50% of facebook users only access it from their mobile devices. > And I do not think, there is a sharp line between WebApp and Website. You could say, we are using one right now (even though very primitive) discussing right now - more than "static(-ish) content" You could make that claim but it'd be a tough sell. Sites like this are clearly not what anyone talks about when they say "web app" or extol the virtues of HTML5. This site is static(-ish) content with hyperlinks to go to new static pages. It's not dynamic or highly interactive. Which is part of what makes it great, don't get me wrong. But it's clearly not a candidate for a web app, it's not clamoring for webasm, webgl, or any of those shiny new toys, etc... > the web is faaaar away from static documents linking each other, what was it's origin. How do you figure? Most people google something (either via a dumb web form or more commonly via a native app), then click a link to a static page. Or this site, which is basically just an index page of yesteryear, and is literally just a bunch of static links to other usually static content. > And with real webapps - well, I believe the big ones are about to come. The underlying technology to really make them usefull, is just about to become stable. I disagree since the underlying technology really truly doesn't exist. The fundamental basics to making a responsive app still don't exist at all (no cheap concurrency, for example, to say nothing of cheap parallelism).
  - 9y ago
pendar747 9y ago
I think the fact that most facebook users only access it trough mobile is because of the general shift to mobile. Even most web usage is now on mobile: example source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/11/01/mobile-web-usage-overtakes-desktop-for-first-time/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/11/01/mobile-web-...

twe4ked 9y ago

> What would you hold up as an example of a powerful web app with significant usage? Google Docs suite perhaps?

kllrnohj 9y ago
Maybe? Hard to tell since Google Docs on Android at least is a native app not a wrapper around the website and I'd assume that's true on iOS as well. Similarly Microsoft Office on mobile is a native app, and I can't seem to find good stats for how Office on Windows/Mac compares to the Docs suite on desktop but my guess is that it's not a pretty comparison for Google Docs...

TekMol 9y ago

What would you hold up as an example of a powerful web app with significant usage? The web as a whole is one gigantic web app that works wonderfully. I am using the web all day and for pretty much everything. HN and the linked articles for news. Trello, Github, Upwork for collaboration. FB and Meetup to find an save events I want to attend. Booking.com to find and book hotels. My local railway site for train travel. My local cab site for cab rides. My local public transport site for bus/subway rides. Google flights for flight planning.... I could continue forever. Whenever I need something, I find it on Google and just use it.

hutzlibu 9y ago

"All the major players these days (like Facebook) get the overwhelming majority of their traffic through their native mobile app" Source? And I do not think, there is a sharp line between WebApp and Website. You could say, we are using one right now (even though very primitive) discussing right now - more than "static(-ish) content" Also most of the other parts of the Web are not really static anymore - highly dynamic, live interaction between the whole world! That's pretty awesome if you think about it. So the Web works and the web is faaaar away from static documents linking each other, what was it's origin. And with real webapps - well, I believe the big ones are about to come. The underlying technology to really make them usefull, is just about to become stable.

kllrnohj 9y ago
> Source? https://expandedramblings.com/index.php/facebook-mobile-app-statistics/ https://expandedramblings.com/index.php/facebook-mobile-app-... Over 50% of facebook users only access it from their mobile devices. > And I do not think, there is a sharp line between WebApp and Website. You could say, we are using one right now (even though very primitive) discussing right now - more than "static(-ish) content" You could make that claim but it'd be a tough sell. Sites like this are clearly not what anyone talks about when they say "web app" or extol the virtues of HTML5. This site is static(-ish) content with hyperlinks to go to new static pages. It's not dynamic or highly interactive. Which is part of what makes it great, don't get me wrong. But it's clearly not a candidate for a web app, it's not clamoring for webasm, webgl, or any of those shiny new toys, etc... > the web is faaaar away from static documents linking each other, what was it's origin. How do you figure? Most people google something (either via a dumb web form or more commonly via a native app), then click a link to a static page. Or this site, which is basically just an index page of yesteryear, and is literally just a bunch of static links to other usually static content. > And with real webapps - well, I believe the big ones are about to come. The underlying technology to really make them usefull, is just about to become stable. I disagree since the underlying technology really truly doesn't exist. The fundamental basics to making a responsive app still don't exist at all (no cheap concurrency, for example, to say nothing of cheap parallelism).
- 9y ago

pendar747 9y ago

I think the fact that most facebook users only access it trough mobile is because of the general shift to mobile. Even most web usage is now on mobile: example source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/11/01/mobile-web-usage-overtakes-desktop-for-first-time/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/11/01/mobile-web-...