4 ms·

I understand the user point of view, but some web UIs nowadays are so bad and the app so good that I'm not sure this always holds true. I do agree that this se

I understand the user point of view, but some web UIs nowadays are so bad and the app so good that I'm not sure this always holds true. I do agree that this seems to be exception rather than the rule - so having both is actually nice IMHO.

owenpalmer 7mo ago
Alternatively, they could just make the web UI good.
- happytoexplain 7mo ago
  This isn't an alternative for the user (the person you're replying to).
  - denysvitali 7mo ago
    I can't think of a web app that really feels like a (good) native one. For example, I would never use Google Calendar as a web app / Google Maps as a web app as they're far inferior IMHO
    - jeroenhd 7mo ago
      I used Home Assistant as a web app for years before deciding to download the companion app instead to give it access to my phone's sensors. I used to care a lot about app designs feeling "native" but when I actually took inventory of the apps I use, I came to the conclusion that all app developers (including Apple and Google themselves) will force their own designs and theming into every app. The only exception seems to be coming from a bunch of open-source apps that don't have branding concerns to worry about. With the realisation that most apps look and navigate must as bad as their website equivalent, I found it much easier to use web apps.
rpcope1 7mo ago
TurboTax, for all its faults is one of those where the desktop app is better than the webapp they keep pushing.
microflash 7mo ago
> some web UIs nowadays are so bad and the app so good that I'm not sure this always holds true. This is by design to force you install the app. Most of these days, I just treat it as a signal to neither use the app nor the website.
- camdenreslink 7mo ago
  Reddit comes to mind. I have so many issues with their mobile website. The back button has been broken for years, comments will frequently just hang as loading indefinitely (only fixable with a hard refresh), videos will sometimes not be replayable, sometimes if you change the zoom on the page it will just hard refresh, etc. I'm not sure if it is intentional to push you to the mobile app, but I have to imagine the mobile app doesn't have all these issues.
  - jonathanlb 7mo ago
    Thankfully, old.reddit.com as a default option still works. The kicker is that the text is so small and to make the site usable (and readable) you need to rotate your phone to landscape mode. This works well enough that I haven't downloaded the reddit mobile app or used their mobile site ever since they killed Apollo.
    - dredmorbius 7mo ago
      But i.reddit.com does not. That was the original mobile experience. And worse: neither would propagate to on-site links. That is, if someone had explicitly linked "www" rather than "old" or "i" at reddit, then regardless of which interface you'd arrived at it from, requiring you to constantly re-specify the actual interface you want. Particularly when not logged in to the site. I'd begun using Reddit nearly 15 years ago, my last comment is now two years old, and my subs private (and inactive). Site's dead to me.
      - account42 7mo ago
        It used to be that you could set old.reddit.com as the default interface for www.reddit.com URLs, with the new interface still being available at new.reddit.com - is that no longer the case?
skydhash 7mo ago
Unless it’s required (Starlink) or something I check often (not much this day), I don’t use the app version. I prefer grabbing my laptop and use the web version. But best is when there’s an API available so I can write my own tools.
efreak 7mo ago
Better can be relative, too. If your app is native (desktop or not) and now efficient with ram than your website is, I'll download it and use that instead. My mother's computer has 16gb RAM and was ooming due to outlook and Google workspace alone using up 8gb of RAM in 7 tabs. I added an increased swap file and it started thrashing instead of just killing the browser. It's so bad Quicken 200X doesn't work properly (according to task manager, Quicken uses some 30mb RAM) For local apps, I'll firewall it: on mobile I use rethinkdns and trackercontrol to block unnecessary network calls; on desktop I'll mostly just deal with it (I have an extensive hosts file), but that doesn't mean everything).

owenpalmer 7mo ago

Alternatively, they could just make the web UI good.

happytoexplain 7mo ago
This isn't an alternative for the user (the person you're replying to).
- denysvitali 7mo ago
  I can't think of a web app that really feels like a (good) native one. For example, I would never use Google Calendar as a web app / Google Maps as a web app as they're far inferior IMHO
  - jeroenhd 7mo ago
    I used Home Assistant as a web app for years before deciding to download the companion app instead to give it access to my phone's sensors. I used to care a lot about app designs feeling "native" but when I actually took inventory of the apps I use, I came to the conclusion that all app developers (including Apple and Google themselves) will force their own designs and theming into every app. The only exception seems to be coming from a bunch of open-source apps that don't have branding concerns to worry about. With the realisation that most apps look and navigate must as bad as their website equivalent, I found it much easier to use web apps.

rpcope1 7mo ago

TurboTax, for all its faults is one of those where the desktop app is better than the webapp they keep pushing.

microflash 7mo ago

> some web UIs nowadays are so bad and the app so good that I'm not sure this always holds true. This is by design to force you install the app. Most of these days, I just treat it as a signal to neither use the app nor the website.

camdenreslink 7mo ago
Reddit comes to mind. I have so many issues with their mobile website. The back button has been broken for years, comments will frequently just hang as loading indefinitely (only fixable with a hard refresh), videos will sometimes not be replayable, sometimes if you change the zoom on the page it will just hard refresh, etc. I'm not sure if it is intentional to push you to the mobile app, but I have to imagine the mobile app doesn't have all these issues.
- jonathanlb 7mo ago
  Thankfully, old.reddit.com as a default option still works. The kicker is that the text is so small and to make the site usable (and readable) you need to rotate your phone to landscape mode. This works well enough that I haven't downloaded the reddit mobile app or used their mobile site ever since they killed Apollo.
  - dredmorbius 7mo ago
    But i.reddit.com does not. That was the original mobile experience. And worse: neither would propagate to on-site links. That is, if someone had explicitly linked "www" rather than "old" or "i" at reddit, then regardless of which interface you'd arrived at it from, requiring you to constantly re-specify the actual interface you want. Particularly when not logged in to the site. I'd begun using Reddit nearly 15 years ago, my last comment is now two years old, and my subs private (and inactive). Site's dead to me.
    - account42 7mo ago
      It used to be that you could set old.reddit.com as the default interface for www.reddit.com URLs, with the new interface still being available at new.reddit.com - is that no longer the case?

skydhash 7mo ago

Unless it’s required (Starlink) or something I check often (not much this day), I don’t use the app version. I prefer grabbing my laptop and use the web version. But best is when there’s an API available so I can write my own tools.

efreak 7mo ago

Better can be relative, too. If your app is native (desktop or not) and now efficient with ram than your website is, I'll download it and use that instead. My mother's computer has 16gb RAM and was ooming due to outlook and Google workspace alone using up 8gb of RAM in 7 tabs. I added an increased swap file and it started thrashing instead of just killing the browser. It's so bad Quicken 200X doesn't work properly (according to task manager, Quicken uses some 30mb RAM) For local apps, I'll firewall it: on mobile I use rethinkdns and trackercontrol to block unnecessary network calls; on desktop I'll mostly just deal with it (I have an extensive hosts file), but that doesn't mean everything).