4 ms·

Why The Killer Tablet App Is The Browser

54 points by jasonlbaptiste 16y ago

Flemlord 16y ago
Part of what makes an app an app is the encapsulated experience with a "desktop" icon to launch it, and the appstore focal point for finding new apps. Before HTML 5 can be a true replacement, somebody needs to create an appstore-like experience for HTML 5 apps. With Android and WP7 this could be as simple as a HTML5 shell project that wraps a particular HTML5 site so that it looks like an app on the device. Then HTML5 apps can be fed into the frameworks of the existing app stores, including the approval process and "desktop" icon.
- jasonlbaptiste 16y ago
  Yup, so the add to homescreen stuff is there in iOs. It's possible to do a simple call to action popup. The thing is, content apps have already been discovered as people go to them already.
- grahamburger 16y ago
  I'm not sure I agree - I put a lot of effort keeping as few desktop icons visible as possible, I like the cleaner interface. On my work desktop, I have one icon - my browser. There are a few other pieces of software I use, but I navigate the menu or hit alt-F2 to find them. When HTML5 becomes ubiquitous, I will probably very rarely use the app store. Perhaps I'm in the minority, but I doubt I'm completely alone. For me, a browser with my most often visited sites (whether they be html5 'apps' or otherwise) and bookmarks on the launch page would be a more natural extension of how I use the device.
  - Flemlord 16y ago
    I was speaking from the perspective of devices, namely phones. The way to launch apps is by clicking a "desktop" icon. More broadly stated, you need a way to hook into the local environment so that HTML5 sites aren't distinguishable from locally-run/stored apps.
    - grahamburger 16y ago
      That does make sense. What I'm saying is that the way I currently use my desktop is mostly for web based apps which don't have any local hook (other than the browser itself) and that when I can do the same thing on my phone, I will. For me, the lack of a local hook outside of the browser doesn't detract from the experience or my productivity, and in fact makes it easier to find the local apps that I do have, because I don't have to scroll through all of the hooks to the web apps.
johnrob 16y ago
The web beat native on PCs - it would be bizarre if the same thing didn't happen on tablets. My opinion is that apps dominate right now because user input is clumsy. For the web to work, it needs to be easy to type urls. But tablets (so far) are pretty uncomfortable to type on.
- nigelsampson 16y ago
  I think part of the reason the web beat native desktop apps was the notion of the app being "available everywhere". This certainly made web based mail clients the initial killer web apps. Native mobile apps don't suffer from this as much given people carry the app with them wherever they go. As well as the prevalence of cloud based apps we're seeing native apps for each platform interconnecting. Certainly the ROI for building a single web app rather than two or three mobiles apps is better, but I believe at the moment the UX is better for multiple native apps.
  - jasonlbaptiste 16y ago
    the flip side is, we live in a multi device world. so even though the devices do get carried everywhere, we switch devices now. mo devices, mo problems.

Part of what makes an app an app is the encapsulated experience with a "desktop" icon to launch it, and the appstore focal point for finding new apps. Before HTML 5 can be a true replacement, somebody needs to create an appstore-like experience for HTML 5 apps. With Android and WP7 this could be as simple as a HTML5 shell project that wraps a particular HTML5 site so that it looks like an app on the device. Then HTML5 apps can be fed into the frameworks of the existing app stores, including the approval process and "desktop" icon.

jasonlbaptiste 16y ago
Yup, so the add to homescreen stuff is there in iOs. It's possible to do a simple call to action popup. The thing is, content apps have already been discovered as people go to them already.
grahamburger 16y ago
I'm not sure I agree - I put a lot of effort keeping as few desktop icons visible as possible, I like the cleaner interface. On my work desktop, I have one icon - my browser. There are a few other pieces of software I use, but I navigate the menu or hit alt-F2 to find them. When HTML5 becomes ubiquitous, I will probably very rarely use the app store. Perhaps I'm in the minority, but I doubt I'm completely alone. For me, a browser with my most often visited sites (whether they be html5 'apps' or otherwise) and bookmarks on the launch page would be a more natural extension of how I use the device.
- Flemlord 16y ago
  I was speaking from the perspective of devices, namely phones. The way to launch apps is by clicking a "desktop" icon. More broadly stated, you need a way to hook into the local environment so that HTML5 sites aren't distinguishable from locally-run/stored apps.
  - grahamburger 16y ago
    That does make sense. What I'm saying is that the way I currently use my desktop is mostly for web based apps which don't have any local hook (other than the browser itself) and that when I can do the same thing on my phone, I will. For me, the lack of a local hook outside of the browser doesn't detract from the experience or my productivity, and in fact makes it easier to find the local apps that I do have, because I don't have to scroll through all of the hooks to the web apps.

johnrob 16y ago

The web beat native on PCs - it would be bizarre if the same thing didn't happen on tablets. My opinion is that apps dominate right now because user input is clumsy. For the web to work, it needs to be easy to type urls. But tablets (so far) are pretty uncomfortable to type on.

nigelsampson 16y ago
I think part of the reason the web beat native desktop apps was the notion of the app being "available everywhere". This certainly made web based mail clients the initial killer web apps. Native mobile apps don't suffer from this as much given people carry the app with them wherever they go. As well as the prevalence of cloud based apps we're seeing native apps for each platform interconnecting. Certainly the ROI for building a single web app rather than two or three mobiles apps is better, but I believe at the moment the UX is better for multiple native apps.
- jasonlbaptiste 16y ago
  the flip side is, we live in a multi device world. so even though the devices do get carried everywhere, we switch devices now. mo devices, mo problems.