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Is this a competitor to React Native? RN seems to be the ideal: truly native components but a JS programming model.

by atonse 9y ago

yesimahuman 9y ago
We’re focused on pure web applications, and being able to run an app in the App Store and on the web as a PWA and Electron with the same code is a problem our users and customers are asking us to solve. It’s a different approach and I think those that want to stay web-native but still have easy access to native SDKs will find Capacitor interesting. We’ve had some good feedback from some react native developers that they’d love to build out pages with web content and wrap it with a native shell (nav/menu/etc), while easily exposing native modules/plugins to the webview, so that’s a use case we’re going to support. Being able to use that app as a PWA is a compelling value prop of this project as well.
- atonse 9y ago
  Gotcha. Thanks for the clarification. My concern is that too often, embedded web apps still never feel right. It's that uncanny valley. I'm sure it's better than its ever been, but do you have thoughts on bridging that uncanny valley? (through maybe some CSS animation libraries that mimic the native controls?)
  - yesimahuman 9y ago
    We'd like to think Ionic does this well, but also I think people would be surprised how many successful, popular apps actually utilize native shell wrapped web views!
    - atonse 9y ago
      Got some examples? (not trying to be a devil's advocate, but I suspect my view on this is a bit outdated!).
meesterdude 9y ago
> RN seems to be the ideal: truly native components but a JS programming model. I'm not sure i would call React Native "ideal". I think it's "progress" though.
Can_Not 9y ago
There are actually several. NativeScript supports Angular, vanillajs, and recently VueJS. There is also a bridge to use VueJS inside of reactnative itself. There are many other libraries that claim to be "native" but are actually only "native look and feel" (meaning HTML+CSS+Cordova/Phonegap, not native components).

Is this a competitor to React Native? RN seems to be the ideal: truly native components but a JS programming model.

by atonse 9y ago

Is this a competitor to React Native? RN seems to be the ideal: truly native components but a JS programming model.

We’re focused on pure web applications, and being able to run an app in the App Store and on the web as a PWA and Electron with the same code is a problem our users and customers are asking us to solve. It’s a different approach and I think those that want to stay web-native but still have easy access to native SDKs will find Capacitor interesting. We’ve had some good feedback from some react native developers that they’d love to build out pages with web content and wrap it with a native shell (nav/menu/etc), while easily exposing native modules/plugins to the webview, so that’s a use case we’re going to support. Being able to use that app as a PWA is a compelling value prop of this project as well.

atonse 9y ago
Gotcha. Thanks for the clarification. My concern is that too often, embedded web apps still never feel right. It's that uncanny valley. I'm sure it's better than its ever been, but do you have thoughts on bridging that uncanny valley? (through maybe some CSS animation libraries that mimic the native controls?)
- yesimahuman 9y ago
  We'd like to think Ionic does this well, but also I think people would be surprised how many successful, popular apps actually utilize native shell wrapped web views!
  - atonse 9y ago
    Got some examples? (not trying to be a devil's advocate, but I suspect my view on this is a bit outdated!).

meesterdude 9y ago

> RN seems to be the ideal: truly native components but a JS programming model. I'm not sure i would call React Native "ideal". I think it's "progress" though.

Can_Not 9y ago

There are actually several. NativeScript supports Angular, vanillajs, and recently VueJS. There is also a bridge to use VueJS inside of reactnative itself. There are many other libraries that claim to be "native" but are actually only "native look and feel" (meaning HTML+CSS+Cordova/Phonegap, not native components).