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 Quickconnect is well supported and has a book associated with it (which by now should be wildly out of date) and Quickconnect claims to be useable for other mobile platforms as well.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.
Related
We have recently developed an iPhone, iPad, Android application with the Rhodes framework and have found it to be painful to say the least. As we are approaching the finishing stages and now testing the app in mobile devices we find more bugs than were apparent in iPhone simulator and would like to change the development direction as it seems most of the Apps even showcased on the Rhodes site are super buggy and not as smooth as they should be.
Can anyone lend any insight on how we may take already developed front-end files with prepped JSON data to apply it to another framework to produce the application. We have learned how the jQTouch framework operates and feel comfortable developing but need to package this into an application.
Rapid development is a key concern as we are approaching a deadline on this project. Note our proficiencies are Ruby, ROR3, JQuery, Modern front-end (HTML5/CSS3)
I'm not familiar with Rhodes, but it seems like Phonegap might be a good solution for you. I'm not sure what your app needs to do, but your skills (HTML/CSS and jQuery in particular) would translate well.
Phonegap lets you create an app for both iPhone/Android, while using the same code. There's some tweaking when setting up your files... but the overall intent is that you're working with the same code (as opposed to having to create two separate apps).
For both iPhone/Android apps developed with Phonegap, you're basically working with files within a folder (much like you would work with files inside a folder on a server). It's a basic group of file types - image, javascript, css, etc. You build like you would for a browser.
jQTouch provides more of a look and feel, in terms of the buttons, UI and animation/transition between sections. Phonegap more or less wraps up all the code, and lets you bundle it as an app for iPhone/Android.
Additionally, if you need to access device-specific functionality like GPS, camera, etc... Phonegap has a nice library you can tap into. Again - same code for both iPhone/Android.
A quick reference to review (to see if Phonegap + jQTouch is a good fit for you) is Jonathan Stark's book: Building iPhone Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. You may also want to refer to the example files referenced in his chapters, here.
Final note: jQtouch is meant for smaller handhelds. Not sure how well it translates over to iPad, but just an FYI. I know less about Sencha Touch, but it's made by the same folks and might be another approach for larger screens.
Hi I have been recently exploring some of the Javascript mobile frameworks that can be used for developing mobile web apps like Sencha, JQTouch, JQuery mobile etc.
I know the adv and disadvantages of both.
I just need some recent stats which show the market's adoption or opinion.
I tried three ways to develop mobile applications.
First method is to use frameworks that will take your html/css/js files and package them into mobile applications depending on your targets (BlackBerry, iPhone, Android, ...). I used PhoneGap (known today as Cordova). I didn't like it at all because the UI's rendering is so ugly on some devices and the user experience is broken. I had to use it with jQuery Mobile because it gave me a good UI design start. I tried some Phonegap Android generated applications on my personal device and it's really horrible. Some of them got rejected by Apple because of that ...
Second method is to use Appcelerator Titanium SDK. One word to sum it up: Awesome. One language to use (javascript) to create your UI/Controller. It's so easy to learn, so powerful to develop with and it has many out-of-the-box functionnalities (like facebook API, Yahoo Query Language, ...) that will allow you to put in place solutions easily for both Android and iPhone. BlackBerry is coming soon. What I liked the most is that it converts the written Javascript into the targetted platform with the default UI. It's really great. And, above all, the UI is easily customizable (with a css like system).
Personally, I put in place apps that can: Take a photo with the device then send it to a remote server, send messages to twitter/facebook, advanced geolocation, etc.
Third method: Native! It would take time if you target both iPhone and Android but, the big advantage is that you can create anything you want without being tied to a Framework for areas such as games, augmented reality , etc.
In my opinion, if you want to create simple applications with some nice features (weather, twitter feeds, sending on a facebook wall, ...), use Appcelerator Titanium SDK.
It converts your code into NATIVE.
If you have time to spend learning native languages, do it. It's the best way ;)
Hope it helps.
Regards.
I've summed up my thoughts on the whole "native vs. web" discussion in a blog post here: http://www.springenwerk.com/2011/09/thoughts-on-mobile-ui-design.html
In a nutshell: You can't get around getting to know the platform you are targeting if you want to provide a great user experience. Plus, you shouldn't try to mimic native UI/UX in a web application, it will only disappoint your users.
here are some pros and cons of native apps vs. web apps:
Native apps:
Native apps have more security
Native apps have higher user engagement, it has higher click-through rate (CTR) among the ad-serving publishers
When it comes to aesthetics and overall user experience, it is incredibly difficult for web apps to trump native apps
you don't have to buy a server and maintain it, therefore, for small businesses it is the ideal solution, not web apps which require a server.
Web apps:
it's cross platform - that means your one app will work on both iphone and android
cheaper and faster to develop and maintain
you will find programmers easier than native apps
updates are easier
Check out this post for some more opinion - http://www.thorntech.com/2013/01/html5-vs-native-apps-which-will-win-the-mobile-app-development-battle/
In particular, the last paragraph is worth noting. If you go down the path of building an HTML5 app, it is worth having some type of background "syncing" of content so you are not always pulling it from the web in real time. The app will be much more responsive if you load HTML pages from disk.
From my experience, the success rate of a native apps are much better than html or javascript based ones. I do not have sufficient numbers to back it up, but these are some issues that may crop up when trying to build html5 apps for different platforms. e.g.
Browser OS or webkit differences can cause unexpected bugs, css issues that could take quite a while to debug.
Your app is running on top of a webkit browser engine which takes up additional resources.
Older or non-smart phone devices may not have a modern webkit engine.
Nevertheless if you have good web skills over native, then getting an app to the market the quicket and cheapest route would be html5. Some apps lend very well for html5 such as data listing, and text content driven apps. I have written a writeup on HTML5 vs Native on my blog. Hope its useful.
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...
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.
I'm aware of several Javascript frameworks that assist in creating webapps for the iPhone and ipod Touch:
Joe Hewitt's iui -- http://code.google.com/p/iui/
Ciui -- A revised take on Joe's work by Vladimir Olexa of CNET -- http://code.google.com/p/ciui-dev/
WebApp -- by Chrilith. http://webapp.net.free.fr/ Unfortunately, he doesn't publish his code until after a release.
I'm leaning towards Ciui but want your thoughts.
Which toolkit do you use for iPhone webapps?
Thanks,
Larry
ADDED following from the answers:
Sproutcore
JQuery Mobile -- still under development. From the JQuery team
JQtouch -- superset of JQuery. Possible issue of library size
Cappuccino -- comment by Ryan McCuaig: by 280 North. In philosophy, they're porting Cocoa and Objective-C to the Javascript environment (right down to Objective-C style syntax extensions to Javascript and reusing NIB files. Quite incredible).
Wink
xui
Jo by Dave Balmer (blog). Designed to work with PhoneGap, it can be used to build web apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, plus native apps (via PhoneGap) for iPhone, Android, webOS, and Symbian. See the demo video. Set res to 720p to read the screen.
Zepto.js by Thomas Fuchs of scriptaculous fame
ChocolateChip-UI
JQtouch vs JQuery
Added Dec 12, 2010. Here is a comment on a public board about JQtouch vs JQuery mobile from Dave Oliver:
JQuery Mobile is another evolutionary step past JQTouch. JQTouch is stable now (and features are included in the Sencha Touch framework), while JQuery Mobile is only in Alpha state at this point.
Having "learned the lessons" of JQTouch, JQuery Mobile adopts some new philosophy that may or may not be to your liking. Among other things, it defines a "cross platform look and feel" (though it will later add a version of JQuery's automated theme generator). JQTouch, by comparison, is neutral (though you have to do some work to make your look and feel look the way you want it).
The primary negative you sometimes hear about JQTouch is the lack of a fixed position footer and sub-pane scrolling (reason: iPhone native apps have these features). It turns out other smart people have solved that problem in ways that work inside JQTouch (see, e.g., iScroll).
I think the JQuery team is working on a very compelling offering, and I think it will see a lot of interest and additional community scrutiny which is good. But, having experimented with it for a real application, it is - at this point - a bit too new to consider for production use. "Watch This Space", as they say.
Apple has provided some tools within Dashcode to quickly make basic native-looking web apps.
But...
I've been finding that I get buried in great big incomprehensible masses of div and event-listener spaghetti working down at the jQuery/Prototype level. We're looking into moving up a couple of levels of abstraction into MVC frameworks. What we feel we need is the web app equivalent of Cocoa Touch.
The two we're investigating are:
Sproutcore, which I understand is used by Apple for their Mobile Me web apps,
Cappuccino, by 280 North. In philosophy, they're porting Cocoa and Objective-C to the Javascript environment (right down to Objective-C style syntax extensions to Javascript and reusing NIB files. Quite incredible).
According to the Flickr team, for which I have much respect, you shouldn't use frameworks. Instead, focus on wringing out all performance possible via small size and careful http queries:
"1. Don’t Use a JavaScript Library or CSS Framework "
Flickr developer blog post