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Every once in awhile I try to switch out my native apps for web apps where possible, and the problem is that the web apps are always very noticeably worse. Mayb

Every once in awhile I try to switch out my native apps for web apps where possible, and the problem is that the web apps are always very noticeably worse. Maybe there's a fix for that, but if so it's a different problem than "monopoly power".

redbar0n 4y ago
noticeably worse in what ways?
- pvillano 4y ago
  Slower, reduced feature set, often buggy.
  - BackBlast 4y ago
    Reduced feature set -> this only demonstrates a lack of investment, because it is not fundamental to the technology. Buggy -> same demonstration of a lack of investment, not fundamental to the technology. Slower -> I only see this "objection" on hackernews. Every user I talk to just wants their stuff to work, speed doesn't even make their list of concerns.
- BackBlast 4y ago
  For a real list of objections... PWAs don't integrate well into the native menu system, like say MacOS. This is much more noticeable on desktop. On mobile, it's fine. The access to the file system is more limited (can be a feature rather than a limitation). Again, this is more noticeable on desktop as mobile apps tend to be heavily sandboxed. Specialty hardware access like bluetooth, USB doesn't work. Direct access to the network stack or information isn't available, etc etc. It's much more popular to use a wrapper around an HTML5+JS+CSS stack to overcome these shortcomings. Electron, Capacitor, etc.
agust 4y ago
Apple's monopoly combined with its underinvestment in WebKit is definitely the main reason why web apps are subpar compared to native at the moment.
- yamtaddle 4y ago
  Looks at webapps on the desktop, where any browser may be installed, yet webapps are all bad No, pretty sure that's not the main reason they're subpar compared to native. Hell, so's Java, and that's way better-positioned to not-suck relative to native than webtech is, and it's been in that game far longer.
- dmitriid 4y ago
  There are billions of Android devices, yet I don't see devs flocking to create these beautiful fully-featured PWAs they keep screaming about. (Cue in "but they are underpowered devices in poor countries")

redbar0n 4y ago

noticeably worse in what ways?

pvillano 4y ago
Slower, reduced feature set, often buggy.
- BackBlast 4y ago
  Reduced feature set -> this only demonstrates a lack of investment, because it is not fundamental to the technology. Buggy -> same demonstration of a lack of investment, not fundamental to the technology. Slower -> I only see this "objection" on hackernews. Every user I talk to just wants their stuff to work, speed doesn't even make their list of concerns.
BackBlast 4y ago
For a real list of objections... PWAs don't integrate well into the native menu system, like say MacOS. This is much more noticeable on desktop. On mobile, it's fine. The access to the file system is more limited (can be a feature rather than a limitation). Again, this is more noticeable on desktop as mobile apps tend to be heavily sandboxed. Specialty hardware access like bluetooth, USB doesn't work. Direct access to the network stack or information isn't available, etc etc. It's much more popular to use a wrapper around an HTML5+JS+CSS stack to overcome these shortcomings. Electron, Capacitor, etc.

agust 4y ago

Apple's monopoly combined with its underinvestment in WebKit is definitely the main reason why web apps are subpar compared to native at the moment.

yamtaddle 4y ago
Looks at webapps on the desktop, where any browser may be installed, yet webapps are all bad No, pretty sure that's not the main reason they're subpar compared to native. Hell, so's Java, and that's way better-positioned to not-suck relative to native than webtech is, and it's been in that game far longer.
dmitriid 4y ago
There are billions of Android devices, yet I don't see devs flocking to create these beautiful fully-featured PWAs they keep screaming about. (Cue in "but they are underpowered devices in poor countries")