Agreed. When i first heard about jQuery mobile i was hoping they would take the familiar jQuery syntax and add things like touch events and optimize it for mobi

Agreed. When i first heard about jQuery mobile i was hoping they would take the familiar jQuery syntax and add things like touch events and optimize it for mobile. However, you really can't make your own custom jQ mobile site without getting the 'app' thing. Also, you need to include the normal jQ library, which is a pretty big download and includes lots of cross-browser code for fixing old IE bugs. Right now i guess either rolling your own framework or looking into alternatives like Zepto.js makes more sense.