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Still different goals there. You add Capacitor's JS runtime to your PWA then use plugins and other Capacitor-based capabilities. PWABuilder's goal is more limi

by judah 5y ago

Still different goals there. You add Capacitor's JS runtime to your PWA then use plugins and other Capacitor-based capabilities. PWABuilder's goal is more limited in scope: take your existing PWA, no changes, and publish to app stores. For some folks, Capacitor will be the right answer. But we think there's value in making PWAs as-is run well on iOS.

yesimahuman 5y ago
Capacitor creator here: agreed that Capacitor absolutely could be used by the PWA Builder team to power this and still keep their goals/values in mind (we also have a connection through Justin at PWA Builder who was an old Ionic team member!) I am going to chat w/ Judah about this, already have a convo on github
- gavinray 5y ago
  It has been really cool to watch the evolution from Apache PhoneGap -> Cordova -> Ionic -> Capacitor (where now Ionic is the UI component library) I had strong negative experiences/opinions, all the way up until Capacitor. It's good tech and an undervalued option when compared to React Native. Source: Have built mobile apps with PhoneGap, React Native, NativeScript, and Android. I'm not a fan of React Native -- though my last experiences with it were many years ago so I'm sure much has changed. Also I don't think most "native apps" need to be native apps. They want a place on the homescreen usually, not use of underlying hardware API's like accelerometers. Most "native apps" should really be installable PWA's or using something like Capacitor IMO.
  - yesimahuman 5y ago
    Appreciate the kind words! Capacitor is younger than anything on that list so it still has a ways to go in terms of market awareness, but the general reaction we see when devs try it out is very positive. When we explain to people that you can build a native iOS/Android/Web/Desktop app with your favorite web stack and existing web code in many cases, that's turning out to be pretty compelling. And, for people that tried Cordova in the past, Capacitor's DX is pretty dramatically different and improved.
candiddevmike 5y ago
I did just that when using capacitor (pointed it to my dist folder, good to go). What other steps do you think capacitor requires that PWA builder doesn't?

by judah 5y ago

yesimahuman 5y ago

Capacitor creator here: agreed that Capacitor absolutely could be used by the PWA Builder team to power this and still keep their goals/values in mind (we also have a connection through Justin at PWA Builder who was an old Ionic team member!) I am going to chat w/ Judah about this, already have a convo on github

gavinray 5y ago
It has been really cool to watch the evolution from Apache PhoneGap -> Cordova -> Ionic -> Capacitor (where now Ionic is the UI component library) I had strong negative experiences/opinions, all the way up until Capacitor. It's good tech and an undervalued option when compared to React Native. Source: Have built mobile apps with PhoneGap, React Native, NativeScript, and Android. I'm not a fan of React Native -- though my last experiences with it were many years ago so I'm sure much has changed. Also I don't think most "native apps" need to be native apps. They want a place on the homescreen usually, not use of underlying hardware API's like accelerometers. Most "native apps" should really be installable PWA's or using something like Capacitor IMO.
- yesimahuman 5y ago
  Appreciate the kind words! Capacitor is younger than anything on that list so it still has a ways to go in terms of market awareness, but the general reaction we see when devs try it out is very positive. When we explain to people that you can build a native iOS/Android/Web/Desktop app with your favorite web stack and existing web code in many cases, that's turning out to be pretty compelling. And, for people that tried Cordova in the past, Capacitor's DX is pretty dramatically different and improved.

candiddevmike 5y ago

I did just that when using capacitor (pointed it to my dist folder, good to go). What other steps do you think capacitor requires that PWA builder doesn't?