Can someone recommend a good Mobile UI Javascript/jQuery framework that works well with both the iPhone and Blackberry? I'm developing the core app from ASP.NET.
Thank you in advance.
I don't have any personal experience with any of these, but I thought I'd mention a few that I've heard of. It will probably depend more on the features you require for your specific application, to determine which framework suits you best. Also, this is by no means an exhaustive list - the "cross-platform" mobile frameworks seem to be popping up all over the place recently!
Rhodoes
PhoneGap
ramp
appcelerator
As it is today, the BlackBerry browser is not very friendly to these libraries. But the upcoming version will support HTML 5, which will allow you to use most popular js frameworks. From personal experience I can recommend Sencha and jQuery.
I would recommend Sencha Touch or Sproutcore.
Sencha Touch is very similar to EXTJS, which a lot of front end developers really like. Check out
http://www.sencha.com/products/touch/
It is probably more mature than SC, and you will have a larger developer base on which to draw. You are gonna wanna try out the demos on that link, on a phone or ipad if you have one.
However, I personally like the strong MVC pattern that Sproutcore enforces. The mobile framework exists, but I don't know of any major clients adopting it, yet. The founder of SC, Charles Jolley, recently left Apple to push his framework; its gonna be big.
BlackBerry has very basic browser.
But for iPhone, you can try jQTouch. Its lightweight and amazing.
Related
Me and my friends are starting app development. We have created 2 apps now, and have 3 more in the works. We're looking for a development tool or environment that will allow us to build games that works on all the major handsets. We're using Flash at the moment for cross-platform, but are there any better and more powerful options?
Or would it be best to write the code in one language, then convert it line by line to the others? How do the creators of games like Angry Birds do it?
Thanks.
There are many options:
PhoneGap
SAP Sybase Unwired Platform
Appcelerator Titanium
RhoMobile
Kony
Out of all these mentioned tools i will recommend PhoneGap.
Also PhoneGap and Corona
My friends are using this for making games , and am a designer so not much into programming of that. But still as far my friends say this is good for most of the applications, though there are very few things which cant be implemented.
My friends have created a utility app and a game tic tac to using this.
For developing games i would recommend Corona.
For a native feel and look i would recommend Titanium
For fast and simple development and using html/js i would recommend Phonegap
You should also check out Worklight from IBM. You can easily download the fully functional development tool from their developerworks Web site. The only restriction is that you can't use what you write for a production version. Their tutorials are great and escort you comfortably through the short learning curve.
I'm a Titanium Developer, I find this framework great because it gives me the chance to develop cross browser mobile with Javascript. This is a big advantage for people that have Web Developing background like me. If you are gonna develop basic cross browser application und you will do it quick (and if you have javascript know-how), then appcelerator is good for you!
I've been digging around for this one. I understand that there two possible ways to develop for the iPhone.
via web kit frameworks, such as jqtouch and iwebkit, and
using the iPhone's api
I notice quite a few people using web kit frameworks, especially jqtouch. What are the benefits of using a webkit framework versus using the iPhone's api directly?
One point that springs into mind, is the fact that using a web kit framework makes it accessible through other smart phones? Not just the iPhone?
Are there any differences in terms of graphic enhancements? i.e. will transitions or animation look different?
I am a web developer by heart. It will be an advantage if I can develop an iPhone app with knowledge that I already know, that being the Ruby on Rails web framework.
I have also read this slideshow, which seems pretty detailed on various web kits.
Your suggestions / feedback is appreciated.
Just came across the following by Oreilly which seems to answer a good detail of differences between a native and web app development for the iPhone.
We have a push based web-application. Recently, we planned to make an iPhone app for it. Much like Facebook has it's iPhone application as well as web presence. We are looking for a UI framework that can get us going quickly. I've leafed through PhoneGap and couple other JS based UI frameworks mentioned here. I am bit unsure what can suit us the best. So, I am looking for your suggestions.
Our constraints are as follows:
The framework should be JS based. We all are web-devs and want to avoid learning Objective C.
Framework should support iPhone's capabiilities as smoothly as a native app does. If not, we will prefer a JS framework which is the smoothest of all JS frameworks. So, this is the most important constraint.
It should support smooth swipe through screens, support rotation. Nice, if it can capture shake as well. But shake does not take preference over a better framework without shake support.
Nice to have -- with little or no modification in code, if the framework is supported on other touchscreen phones as well. Android and Symbian would be suffice. But again, we are focused on iPhone for now.
I am a bit curious to know what can be the best choice to start development with. I will be thankful if you share your experience with pros-and-cons of the framework that you have used.
Thanks
Nishant
I have been playing with following frameworks.
Jo
Sencha Touch
jQuery Mobile
These are for serving Web based mobile sites, they can then in turn be made into Apps for Android or iOS using PhoneGap
Of the 3, Sencha is the more mature project and has the most things out of the box. Jo looks very promising and would probably directly compete with Sencha. jQuery mobile is very interesting but just far to early to do any production code with it, too rough around the edges. jQuery mobile takes a different approach to the others as it is html based and it interperates the attributes on tags to turn things into tableviews or menus.
jQuery mobile is quicker to hack together and get your head around, where the other two take a little bit more thinking. But once you figure them out its easy enough.
If you don't want to serve the site via a url at all and want to just build an app then Appcelerator is the way to go. You write code in JS and it makes native Android or iOS apps for you. You will get access to pretty much the full Android/iOS api.
I have coded with appcelerator, however I am no longer going to use it and use one of the above frameworks, probably Sencha for just now. I can get access to the device native apis via PhoneGap and for simpler apps give a great experience cross device via a url.
In about 6 months, or sooner, I think jQuery mobile will be the daddy...
I am going to develop a content rich application that ideally should have been an iPhone-app, but since I'm short on time, I will stick with technologies that I can, such as JQuery, CSS and HTML. The more mobile devices my site runs on besides iPhone, the better.
A brief search on the web leaves me with the impression that there are three tools I may use: iWebkit, JQTouch and iUI. I have toyed about with JQTouch, which I find impressive and simple to use.
With simplicity comes lack of customizability; I would very much like to have sliders and other cool features in my GUI.
Any comments on which of these three to go for?
I've talked about this subject a couple of days ago in a WebTuesday meeting, here are the slides of the presentation:
http://www.slideshare.net/akosma/webtuesday-mobile-web-applications-framework-overview
I talk about the following frameworks / technologies:
iUI
jQTouch
WebApp.net
iWebKit
SproutCore / Cappuccino
Yahoo! Blueprint
I personally have used iUI, and then later jQTouch, which I literally fell in love with.
I actually just finished writing and article comparing iUI and jQTouch. In my opinion, go with jQTouch because it covers a greater selection of WebKit browser phones like the Palm Pre, Droid and Nexus One.
It will be a slightly larger in file size because it includes the core jQuery library. But if you are already using jQuery in your site, that shouldn't matter.
You check out my article here: http://www.heinencreative.com/archives/articles/iui-vs-jqtouch/
I have done a short list of frameworks for this type of development see here and am working on an article comparing but the holiday and work intervened.
Personally i have done a site in iUI which was a conversion from a Mac Widget, so reused a lot of code. It was relatively easy to do, the code is solid (for iUI) and there is a site where there is support.
JQTouch looks good and so does iWebkit. Quickconnect is well supported and has a book associated with it (which by now should be wildly out of date) and Quickconnect claims to be useable for other mobile platforms as well.
Only hasving lloked i would probably go for JQTouch next time around as it will have mainstream support just with it being based on JQuery.
jQTouch and iUI work with QuickConnect Hybrid framework and PhoneGap.
jQTouch is jQuery web GUI framework for mobile devices (e.g. iPhone, Android, etc.).
iUI is javascript web GUI framework for mobile devices (e.g. iPhone, Android, etc.).
While QuickConnect and PhoneGap are Hybrid framework for mobile devices. For example in iOS, QuickConnect and PhoneGap use Xcode + iOS SDK + Javascript, while in Android, the two use Java + Android SDK + Javascript.
I use these frameworks, jQTouch is better than iUI at the moment. QuickConnect is also better than PhoneGap. However, PhoneGap is popular since it address other mobile OSes aside from iOS and Android. QuickConnect has support for iOS and Android.
I've gone with JQTouch for some prototyping as it seemed the best fit, and the most convenient for my needs.
Yet I would not recommend to build your main business around a webbased iPhone app. Even though it has quite a good set of features, it just doesn't feel responsive enough, and getting to get the app look perfectly like UX designed it can be some pain in the ass, as not the whole set of iPhone UI elements are implemented.
Yet I have to say that it was a matter of minutes to get a service-consuming app running that looks like a real iPhone app.
Jqtouch has the community support and also certain very helpful libraries now for persistence HTML5 support with inmemory db and even more so very fluid appearence.
I've started with iUI a way back but i'm now using jQTouch wich i find much better, specially if you like working with jQuery like me. Havent tried iWebkit though, but from what i've seen of it it can't compete with JQT.
Am looking into developing an iPhone native app using Titanium Developer
Since this is still in beta, I am wondering if there are any better options and/or if its a good idea using such software to develop native apps (which are not games; not graphic intensive)
If you don't want to wait, you can do what a lot of us did: develop apps in Cocoa Touch. It works perfectly well for games as well as non-graphic intensive apps.
The similar and more mature PhoneGap framework has been used in a number of iPhone apps and Apple only seems to object if the application autoupdates.
That being said, I wouldn't recommend using web frameworks unless your application is really simple--you will get a much better experience from a native application (on both Android and iPhone)
My company uses Titanium and it's working fine so far. It's also a pleasure to develop iPhone app using javascript and co. I'd recomend you give it a try, it's really simple to set up and start coding.
Some reading up: http://boldr.net/iphone-app-with-titanium-mobile/