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|slow, shitty "web apps" Ah yes, nothing is better than waiting 5 minutes for the native Facebook iPhone app to boot up. But seriously, I've mostly switched fr

by jekrb 12y ago

|slow, shitty "web apps" Ah yes, nothing is better than waiting 5 minutes for the native Facebook iPhone app to boot up. But seriously, I've mostly switched from facebook to ello just because ello as a web app is faster than facebook as a mobile app. Not all web apps are slow and not all native apps are fast. It's up to the developers to handle that, not the platform. I see a lot of benefits of building and using web apps over native ones. As a developer I can really focus on using the browser as my runtime. Meaning my app will, for the most part, run on most devices. It's also easier to maintain. If I need push a patch or update, I just edit some javascript. As a user, I know that when I switch from device to device I won't need to go through an install process. All I need is a url. Why can't the web be for games or text editors? Some of the most useful text editors I've used are on the web. What about WebRTC? Should we still all be using the Skype desktop app instead? I would probably say that it's lazier not to make your app work well on the web.

gagege 12y ago
"5 minutes"? Even if you had said "10 seconds", there's something wrong with your phone. Facebook on my Moto G starts up in under 2 seconds. Same with most other apps. Besides, I'd rather have an app that takes a little longer to start up, but performs well, than an app that first requires starting a web browser and then on top of that has an interface that runs like a snail.
- organsnyder 12y ago
  Facebook sometimes takes at least 10 seconds to launch on my Nexus 5. While it's loading, all I see is a white screen. This happened both before and after upgrading to Lollipop. I'm running stock unrooted Android, and I don't notice issues with any other apps.
- jekrb 12y ago
  iPhone 4? Maybe there is something wrong with my phone, but my friends experience the same problem, so I'm assuming it's the app/platform combination. It also frequently crashes on start up. Also, even if it is the phone, that's still an issue with native apps. The fb web app loads faster (still not great, but faster) than the iOS app boots up.
danneu 12y ago
> Ah yes, nothing is better than waiting 5 minutes for the native > Facebook iPhone app to boot up. But seriously, I've mostly > switched from facebook to ello just because ello as a web app is > faster than facebook as a mobile app. Then you should check out `about:blank`, a social network similar to ello but even faster.
blub 12y ago
As a developer there might be some benefits, but as a user I am firmly agains web apps for most classes of webapps (let's say except mail or cloudy stuff). First of all, webapps almost always screw something up in the UI. If they're wrapped in a native container maybe they scroll differently, they don't respond to some gestures, are missing some menu entires or make other small mistakes. Depending on the user this can be mildly annoying or just strange for them. Secondly, web apps make customers dependent on something they have no control of. That cool startup might close shop tomorrow and if you're lucky they'll give you one week to export your data. The company might decide to pivot or charge more or a myriad other possibilities and the customer has no choice but to either cancel the service or deal with it. I can give you an example of many iOS users that are still on 7 because some apps were broken by the update - they can do that with apps and we're talking about iOS here, desktop is even more flexible. Thirdly, speed. Ironically, Facebook themselves admitted that they made a huge mistake by using webviews because this made their app incredibly slow. Your case is almost impossible to believe, and indicates that something is completely broken in your software configuration. In most cases a native app will outperform a web app, from the UI speed (scrolling, panning, drag & drop, viewing documents) to performing various tasks. It's quite logical, as a native app has direct access to all APIs, while a webapp has to go through N intermediate layers.

by jekrb 12y ago

gagege 12y ago

"5 minutes"? Even if you had said "10 seconds", there's something wrong with your phone. Facebook on my Moto G starts up in under 2 seconds. Same with most other apps. Besides, I'd rather have an app that takes a little longer to start up, but performs well, than an app that first requires starting a web browser and then on top of that has an interface that runs like a snail.

organsnyder 12y ago
Facebook sometimes takes at least 10 seconds to launch on my Nexus 5. While it's loading, all I see is a white screen. This happened both before and after upgrading to Lollipop. I'm running stock unrooted Android, and I don't notice issues with any other apps.
jekrb 12y ago
iPhone 4? Maybe there is something wrong with my phone, but my friends experience the same problem, so I'm assuming it's the app/platform combination. It also frequently crashes on start up. Also, even if it is the phone, that's still an issue with native apps. The fb web app loads faster (still not great, but faster) than the iOS app boots up.

danneu 12y ago

> Ah yes, nothing is better than waiting 5 minutes for the native > Facebook iPhone app to boot up. But seriously, I've mostly > switched from facebook to ello just because ello as a web app is > faster than facebook as a mobile app. Then you should check out `about:blank`, a social network similar to ello but even faster.

blub 12y ago

As a developer there might be some benefits, but as a user I am firmly agains web apps for most classes of webapps (let's say except mail or cloudy stuff). First of all, webapps almost always screw something up in the UI. If they're wrapped in a native container maybe they scroll differently, they don't respond to some gestures, are missing some menu entires or make other small mistakes. Depending on the user this can be mildly annoying or just strange for them. Secondly, web apps make customers dependent on something they have no control of. That cool startup might close shop tomorrow and if you're lucky they'll give you one week to export your data. The company might decide to pivot or charge more or a myriad other possibilities and the customer has no choice but to either cancel the service or deal with it. I can give you an example of many iOS users that are still on 7 because some apps were broken by the update - they can do that with apps and we're talking about iOS here, desktop is even more flexible. Thirdly, speed. Ironically, Facebook themselves admitted that they made a huge mistake by using webviews because this made their app incredibly slow. Your case is almost impossible to believe, and indicates that something is completely broken in your software configuration. In most cases a native app will outperform a web app, from the UI speed (scrolling, panning, drag & drop, viewing documents) to performing various tasks. It's quite logical, as a native app has direct access to all APIs, while a webapp has to go through N intermediate layers.