5 ms·

JQuery Mobile 1.3.0 Released

45 points by laurent123456 14y ago

nlh 14y ago
It looks great - in theory - but for some reason the performance seems to be dismal. I put together a site using an older version of jqmobile about a year ago and was impressed how smooth and quick the widgets worked, even on a 1G iPad. I just went through the demo site on my iPad 3 and it just seems terrible - slow, improper rendering on a bunch of elements, stuttering transitions, etc. Is anyone else finding this? Perhaps something is amiss on my iPad, but my impression is not great so far...
- Codes 14y ago
  It's broken in chrome on desktop to...
- ergo14 14y ago
  I don't have experience with jquery mobile - but dojox.mobile from dojotoolkit gave me some very nice results and i've built some nicely performing applications with it. You might want to look into that.
- windsurfer 14y ago
  An older version of jqmobile used some kind of FastClick technique, but it was causing too many compatibility issues on android devices. Projects like these need to strike a fine balance between usability and device-awareness, but there are a number of exposed options in the library where you can optimize for specific devices.
Flenser 14y ago
Is there a "standard" way of detecting mobile devices and loading jQuery Mobile along with your site's mobile JavaScript instead of the desktop version? Right now I'd do it like this: Modernizr.load({ test: Modernizr.touch, yep : ['jquery-mobile.js','mobile.js'] nope: ['jquery-ui.js','desktop.js'] });
- hughes 14y ago
  With the advent of touchscreen laptops, this method is becoming less reliable.
  - Flenser 14y ago
    Yup. Realised that after I posted. A way to tell if it has a HW keyboard attached would be useful. Although the user could prefer either method, and what do you do if they detach the KB?!?
jakerocheleau 14y ago
Could anybody with experience building mobile webapps comment on jQuery Mobile vs Sencha Touch? It seems like if you are not building with responsive HTM5/CSS3 you may as well use a JS library for better UI. These are the two biggest names I have seen and it is difficult figuring out if either one is worth the time.
- krat0sprakhar 14y ago
  I was working on making a mobile web app a few weeks back and after quickly deciding that a js framework would be better than a responsive site (lots of widgets, built-in ajax functionality and push-state) I tried both jQ mobile and jQ Touch[0]. Both are quite similar in most respects(learning curve, widgets, etc.) However, if you're looking to completely overhaul the look then jq Mobile, IMHO, is not that great. I found the themeroller[1] to be clunky and difficult to use and would've preferred writing css. jqTouch, on the other hand, is quite customizable (allows SASS based theming). [0] - http://www.jqtouch.com/ http://www.jqtouch.com/ [1] - http://jquerymobile.com/themeroller/index.php http://jquerymobile.com/themeroller/index.php
  - proexploit 14y ago
    There's nothing that prevents you from writing CSS for JQM. The ThemeRoller is simply a setup tool intended to make it easier for the masses. I've actually found there's very little customization needed based on the JQM structural base CSS. See: http://code.jquery.com/mobile/1.3.0/jquery.mobile.structure-1.3.0.css http://code.jquery.com/mobile/1.3.0/jquery.mobile.structure-...
- camus 14y ago
  Sencha Touch is derived from jQtouch code base and is really fast compared to jQueryMobile. jQM is slow but is easier to start with than Sench Touch. But Sencha Touch really is a great product.
- jakejake 14y ago
  Sencha and jquery mobile have slightly different techniques. With Jquery your app is an HTML page with your own markup which is then styled and functionality is added to your elements by the framework. I find it more designer-oriented compared to sencha. With Sencha your app is usually just a single div and everything is done through JavaScript. I find it more programmer-oriented. It has been a couple of versions since I used sencha seriously but that is how it was at the time.
jaxytee 14y ago
Last time a tried using JQuery Mobile for an Android 4.0.3 HTML5 app, button presses didn't work consistently/correctly and the performance was terrible. Also there is still that whole JQuery dependency thing. Until the Android Webview's robustness increases or JQuery/JQuery Mobile improve support for the Android webview I will stick to my Zepto + MV* Framework + Custom Transitions stack for Android HTML5 development.
programminggeek 14y ago
I tried building an app with jQuery Mobile and the performance was horrible. Whole sets of features didn't work. I spent more time trying to get things working right than I did building the actual functionality. I had a lot more success in Kendo Mobile. If jQuery Mobile wasn't backed by the jQuery project, nobody would use it because it isn't that good. It's slow, buggy, and broken. Maybe this release fixes that, but I doubt it.
- tn13 14y ago
  I endorse that. Wanted something lightweight to service some lage number of static pages on android and jQuery M performed just too bad.
wnsnw 14y ago
JQuery Mobile is horrible for mobile applications, IMO. The intrinsic stylesheet, with its rounded corners, box shadows and text shadows results in extremely poor rendering performance in mobile browsers. This can be rectified with work, but it demonstrates to me that their contributors are not at all concerned with performance. Its markup is node heavy (a single LI turns in to 5 elements). Considerations are made for desktop browsers, yet it is proselytized as a mobile framework. Developing with it is cumbersome; the selectors you thought would work do not, because your element has been munged and wrapped with numerous other elements. Triggering "create" more than once sometimes wraps elements a second time because some widgets don't check their classes properly to know they've already been marked up. The only way to know the widget has been created is either checking for known classes or attempting to access one of its methods in a try/catch. Some widgets respond to "refresh" - some don't. Some parts of widgets respond to it, some don't. This makes partial view updates almost, or completely, impossible. I have been slowly replacing JQM's functionality with backbone views and it is working much, much better. If you use jQuery Mobile in your mobile application, I advise you do so with an exit strategy in mind.

45 points by laurent123456 14y ago

nlh 14y ago

It looks great - in theory - but for some reason the performance seems to be dismal. I put together a site using an older version of jqmobile about a year ago and was impressed how smooth and quick the widgets worked, even on a 1G iPad. I just went through the demo site on my iPad 3 and it just seems terrible - slow, improper rendering on a bunch of elements, stuttering transitions, etc. Is anyone else finding this? Perhaps something is amiss on my iPad, but my impression is not great so far...

Codes 14y ago
It's broken in chrome on desktop to...
ergo14 14y ago
I don't have experience with jquery mobile - but dojox.mobile from dojotoolkit gave me some very nice results and i've built some nicely performing applications with it. You might want to look into that.
windsurfer 14y ago
An older version of jqmobile used some kind of FastClick technique, but it was causing too many compatibility issues on android devices. Projects like these need to strike a fine balance between usability and device-awareness, but there are a number of exposed options in the library where you can optimize for specific devices.

Flenser 14y ago

Is there a "standard" way of detecting mobile devices and loading jQuery Mobile along with your site's mobile JavaScript instead of the desktop version? Right now I'd do it like this: Modernizr.load({ test: Modernizr.touch, yep : ['jquery-mobile.js','mobile.js'] nope: ['jquery-ui.js','desktop.js'] });

hughes 14y ago
With the advent of touchscreen laptops, this method is becoming less reliable.
- Flenser 14y ago
  Yup. Realised that after I posted. A way to tell if it has a HW keyboard attached would be useful. Although the user could prefer either method, and what do you do if they detach the KB?!?

jakerocheleau 14y ago

Could anybody with experience building mobile webapps comment on jQuery Mobile vs Sencha Touch? It seems like if you are not building with responsive HTM5/CSS3 you may as well use a JS library for better UI. These are the two biggest names I have seen and it is difficult figuring out if either one is worth the time.

krat0sprakhar 14y ago
I was working on making a mobile web app a few weeks back and after quickly deciding that a js framework would be better than a responsive site (lots of widgets, built-in ajax functionality and push-state) I tried both jQ mobile and jQ Touch[0]. Both are quite similar in most respects(learning curve, widgets, etc.) However, if you're looking to completely overhaul the look then jq Mobile, IMHO, is not that great. I found the themeroller[1] to be clunky and difficult to use and would've preferred writing css. jqTouch, on the other hand, is quite customizable (allows SASS based theming). [0] - http://www.jqtouch.com/ http://www.jqtouch.com/ [1] - http://jquerymobile.com/themeroller/index.php http://jquerymobile.com/themeroller/index.php
- proexploit 14y ago
  There's nothing that prevents you from writing CSS for JQM. The ThemeRoller is simply a setup tool intended to make it easier for the masses. I've actually found there's very little customization needed based on the JQM structural base CSS. See: http://code.jquery.com/mobile/1.3.0/jquery.mobile.structure-1.3.0.css http://code.jquery.com/mobile/1.3.0/jquery.mobile.structure-...
camus 14y ago
Sencha Touch is derived from jQtouch code base and is really fast compared to jQueryMobile. jQM is slow but is easier to start with than Sench Touch. But Sencha Touch really is a great product.
jakejake 14y ago
Sencha and jquery mobile have slightly different techniques. With Jquery your app is an HTML page with your own markup which is then styled and functionality is added to your elements by the framework. I find it more designer-oriented compared to sencha. With Sencha your app is usually just a single div and everything is done through JavaScript. I find it more programmer-oriented. It has been a couple of versions since I used sencha seriously but that is how it was at the time.

jaxytee 14y ago

Last time a tried using JQuery Mobile for an Android 4.0.3 HTML5 app, button presses didn't work consistently/correctly and the performance was terrible. Also there is still that whole JQuery dependency thing. Until the Android Webview's robustness increases or JQuery/JQuery Mobile improve support for the Android webview I will stick to my Zepto + MV* Framework + Custom Transitions stack for Android HTML5 development.

programminggeek 14y ago

I tried building an app with jQuery Mobile and the performance was horrible. Whole sets of features didn't work. I spent more time trying to get things working right than I did building the actual functionality. I had a lot more success in Kendo Mobile. If jQuery Mobile wasn't backed by the jQuery project, nobody would use it because it isn't that good. It's slow, buggy, and broken. Maybe this release fixes that, but I doubt it.

tn13 14y ago
I endorse that. Wanted something lightweight to service some lage number of static pages on android and jQuery M performed just too bad.

wnsnw 14y ago

JQuery Mobile is horrible for mobile applications, IMO. The intrinsic stylesheet, with its rounded corners, box shadows and text shadows results in extremely poor rendering performance in mobile browsers. This can be rectified with work, but it demonstrates to me that their contributors are not at all concerned with performance. Its markup is node heavy (a single LI turns in to 5 elements). Considerations are made for desktop browsers, yet it is proselytized as a mobile framework. Developing with it is cumbersome; the selectors you thought would work do not, because your element has been munged and wrapped with numerous other elements. Triggering "create" more than once sometimes wraps elements a second time because some widgets don't check their classes properly to know they've already been marked up. The only way to know the widget has been created is either checking for known classes or attempting to access one of its methods in a try/catch. Some widgets respond to "refresh" - some don't. Some parts of widgets respond to it, some don't. This makes partial view updates almost, or completely, impossible. I have been slowly replacing JQM's functionality with backbone views and it is working much, much better. If you use jQuery Mobile in your mobile application, I advise you do so with an exit strategy in mind.