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Except that, once you're done developing a hybrid app, you now have a giant chunk of reusable code. Facebook simultaneously supports several different platforms

Except that, once you're done developing a hybrid app, you now have a giant chunk of reusable code. Facebook simultaneously supports several different platforms (normal website, mobile website, iOS app, Android app, Windows Phone app, Blackberry app, etc). Any amount of code reuse is a huge win when you're trying to maintain feature parity in many different directions.

cameronh90 14y ago
How re-usable is it really? The bulk of the work is being done at the server in this case, and the app is mostly UI code. UI code is very platform dependant. I think that HTML5 is probably the future, particularly if things like Firefox OS take off, and it's probably fine for a MVP mobile app (possibly combined with something like PhoneGap). Currently though, native apps definitely provide a better experience, and you should probably do it if you have the resources... and this is from someone who really enjoys web dev and dislikes iOS dev.
- markmm 14y ago
  +1 The whole reusability thing is a red herring, it's like the whole Java run anywhere thing, it might save you duplicating UI code but the apps will look crap and run like a dog.
DominikR 14y ago
Oh come on, you are making it sound as if it would be a massive investment for Facebook to develop native apps for multiple platforms. If I can build a Facebook client that covers the most important features within 3 months (at 2 evenings per week after work) then I'd bet that a company like Facebook (with hundreds of developers that are much better than I am) could invest the needed resources (maybe 3-4 developers per platform) to create a truely amazing native experience. I'd even argue that it is not an option for anyone in their position to even consider going HTML5 just to reuse some code. That would be just the wrong place to save a few bucks for them, considering that they need to make a transition to mobile pretty soon and failing to do so would be an open invitation for competitors to come and basically kill them. Additionally I'd like to add that I am not convinced that is even possible (or if so many times harder) to create a content rich application like Facebook with webviews wrapped in native code that feels as fluid and responsive as a full native app. I have tried this in the beginning with my Facebook client (app link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flipster https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flipster) and failed miserably before stopping this webview nonsense, and so did the Facebook developers.
- gfunk911 14y ago
  Agreed. On the scale of Facebook's resources, building well-functioning apps just isn't a hard problem. Not saying it's not hard, just saying it's not hard on the scale of Facebook's resources.
  - eli 14y ago
    Creating a functional and performant HTML5 app shouldn't have been hard at their scale either. So either it's actually impossible to do better than what they put out (which I find hard to believe -- is it really that much more complex than the HTML5-based LinkedIn app?) or there's some other reason.
    - DominikR 14y ago
      I just can tell you what my experience is. I was unable to do it, but what you have to consider on Android is that a many customers are going to use crappy cheap phones with a weak processor, so every layer of abstraction added is going to hurt the performance a lot. Additionally making the mobile app run smoothly on any device is just the bare minimum for what they should deliver. It's hard to not compare it against competition like the Android Google+ app, which absolutely crushes the Facebook app (I'm talking about the UI here, not about the social network itself), and that's where my sketicism comes from. Even if someone was able to deliver a WebView based app like Facebook, running smoothly on cheap devices, other competitors betting on native (like Google+) would still be in a different league.

cameronh90 14y ago

How re-usable is it really? The bulk of the work is being done at the server in this case, and the app is mostly UI code. UI code is very platform dependant. I think that HTML5 is probably the future, particularly if things like Firefox OS take off, and it's probably fine for a MVP mobile app (possibly combined with something like PhoneGap). Currently though, native apps definitely provide a better experience, and you should probably do it if you have the resources... and this is from someone who really enjoys web dev and dislikes iOS dev.

markmm 14y ago
+1 The whole reusability thing is a red herring, it's like the whole Java run anywhere thing, it might save you duplicating UI code but the apps will look crap and run like a dog.

DominikR 14y ago

Oh come on, you are making it sound as if it would be a massive investment for Facebook to develop native apps for multiple platforms. If I can build a Facebook client that covers the most important features within 3 months (at 2 evenings per week after work) then I'd bet that a company like Facebook (with hundreds of developers that are much better than I am) could invest the needed resources (maybe 3-4 developers per platform) to create a truely amazing native experience. I'd even argue that it is not an option for anyone in their position to even consider going HTML5 just to reuse some code. That would be just the wrong place to save a few bucks for them, considering that they need to make a transition to mobile pretty soon and failing to do so would be an open invitation for competitors to come and basically kill them. Additionally I'd like to add that I am not convinced that is even possible (or if so many times harder) to create a content rich application like Facebook with webviews wrapped in native code that feels as fluid and responsive as a full native app. I have tried this in the beginning with my Facebook client (app link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flipster https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flipster) and failed miserably before stopping this webview nonsense, and so did the Facebook developers.

gfunk911 14y ago
Agreed. On the scale of Facebook's resources, building well-functioning apps just isn't a hard problem. Not saying it's not hard, just saying it's not hard on the scale of Facebook's resources.
- eli 14y ago
  Creating a functional and performant HTML5 app shouldn't have been hard at their scale either. So either it's actually impossible to do better than what they put out (which I find hard to believe -- is it really that much more complex than the HTML5-based LinkedIn app?) or there's some other reason.
  - DominikR 14y ago
    I just can tell you what my experience is. I was unable to do it, but what you have to consider on Android is that a many customers are going to use crappy cheap phones with a weak processor, so every layer of abstraction added is going to hurt the performance a lot. Additionally making the mobile app run smoothly on any device is just the bare minimum for what they should deliver. It's hard to not compare it against competition like the Android Google+ app, which absolutely crushes the Facebook app (I'm talking about the UI here, not about the social network itself), and that's where my sketicism comes from. Even if someone was able to deliver a WebView based app like Facebook, running smoothly on cheap devices, other competitors betting on native (like Google+) would still be in a different league.