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A disclaimer: my company develops iOS apps on contract so I am a bit biased in preferring native code, but I have tried to do HTML5 as a substitute in the past.

A disclaimer: my company develops iOS apps on contract so I am a bit biased in preferring native code, but I have tried to do HTML5 as a substitute in the past. In my experience trying to develop HTML5 apps instead of a native app: 1) Development (and design) time is roughly equivalent between an iOS developer and an HTML developer, because of time trying to copy things that native code gets for free. 2) It's a bad idea to use a cheap HTML developer because there is a lot of stuff to work around, a good HTML5 iPad app is not something you can really do by dragging things around in dreamweaver. 3) What you wind up developing will have to be majorly modified for another platform due to iOS specific bugs, features and chrome. 4) You will never reach the same quality in HTML5 because the iPad has issues relating to CPU, RAM, and bugs or missing features in Safari that Apple doesn't seem too bothered to fix. As a proviso, in some circumstances, like for simple apps that don't need to be perfect, HTML5 is a good idea. What I'm saying is that in most cases native will be better in time/money spent and quality of resulting product.

masklinn 16y ago
> You will never reach the same quality in HTML5 because the iPad has issues relating to CPU, RAM, and bugs or missing features in Safari that Apple doesn't seem too bothered to fix. But those are known (or knowable). It's not like you're dealing with 5 different browsers in 10 different versions here, you're dealing with a single browser in a single version (well two by the end of the year with iOS4.x on iPad) on a single, uniform hardware platform. So the CPU and RAM constraints are well known (and I don't think the BBC app is taxing there), and the bugs or missing features in Safari Mobile can be worked around. Furthermore you can easily rely on proprietary stuff such as custom JS or CSS rules for transforms & stuff, which is a much bigger issue on the open web.
- bruceboughton 16y ago
  >> It's not like you're dealing with 5 different browsers in 10 different versions here, you're dealing with a single browser in a single version If you're only targetting iPhone/iPad/iPod, then what's the point of doing it as a HTML5 app? The implied advantage of HTML5 is portability. The main downside of HTML5 for iPhone apps is that they don't appear in the App Store. How many installs has the BBC News app got because it's been featured in the App Store? Thousands, I bet. The 'app' culture is pretty ingrained in iOS users now... if it's not in the app store, it doesn't exist. Notice how major services like Facebook have both native apps and iPhone optimised web apps.
  - usaar333 16y ago
    App and HTML5 are not mutually exclusive You can always make a trivial iOS/android/BB/etc app that does nothing but show a webview.
    - bruceboughton 16y ago
      Are there any apps like this in the App Store? It wouldn't surprise me if Apple chose not to allow such "apps" in.

masklinn 16y ago

> You will never reach the same quality in HTML5 because the iPad has issues relating to CPU, RAM, and bugs or missing features in Safari that Apple doesn't seem too bothered to fix. But those are known (or knowable). It's not like you're dealing with 5 different browsers in 10 different versions here, you're dealing with a single browser in a single version (well two by the end of the year with iOS4.x on iPad) on a single, uniform hardware platform. So the CPU and RAM constraints are well known (and I don't think the BBC app is taxing there), and the bugs or missing features in Safari Mobile can be worked around. Furthermore you can easily rely on proprietary stuff such as custom JS or CSS rules for transforms & stuff, which is a much bigger issue on the open web.

bruceboughton 16y ago
>> It's not like you're dealing with 5 different browsers in 10 different versions here, you're dealing with a single browser in a single version If you're only targetting iPhone/iPad/iPod, then what's the point of doing it as a HTML5 app? The implied advantage of HTML5 is portability. The main downside of HTML5 for iPhone apps is that they don't appear in the App Store. How many installs has the BBC News app got because it's been featured in the App Store? Thousands, I bet. The 'app' culture is pretty ingrained in iOS users now... if it's not in the app store, it doesn't exist. Notice how major services like Facebook have both native apps and iPhone optimised web apps.
- usaar333 16y ago
  App and HTML5 are not mutually exclusive You can always make a trivial iOS/android/BB/etc app that does nothing but show a webview.
  - bruceboughton 16y ago
    Are there any apps like this in the App Store? It wouldn't surprise me if Apple chose not to allow such "apps" in.