On the Floor
HTML5 vs. Native Apps
It is not always easy or straightforward to choose between HTML5 and native application programming when making a decision on the best technology to use for a mobile application.
If you're developing a game and you want to make money from it, the choice is pretty clear: you should develop a native app for the iOS platform and sell it in the Apple App Store. But for many other types of applications, the choice is not as straightforward. To help clarify your options, I've developed a chart that examines many different factors.
Click here to view the chart: HTML5 vs. Native Apps.
Posted by Adrian Duyzer
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December 31 2010 at 03:00PM
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Comments
Awesome chart. Thanks for sharing.
One question. Can you elaborate on, "Robust, sustainable, data-rich user experience is the most important thing: HTML5". Why not native for this case?
Hi Christian,
Sorry for the late reply, I was away on vacation.
Note that in that section, I said "lean toward approach X", so I'm not ruling out native apps for this, just saying that in my opinion, I think this weighs a little more in HTML5's favour.
This point is separated into two parts, I think - the "robust, sustainable" part, and the "data-rich experience" part.
For the "robust, sustainable part", I believe that if you are looking to create a maintainable, sustainable, application that you can rely on over the long-term, then HTML5 is a good choice because it is naturally cross-platform. Investments made in it right now can be expected to be valuable for years to come, and will be less vulnerable to the rapidly changing mobile device landscape.
For the "data-rich experience" part, what I mean is that if your application is focused on data and information rather than interactivity - e.g. it is business- or productivity-focused - then HTML5 should serve it well, because you'll have all of the standard interface controls and conventions that come along with web applications available to you. If it mainly consists of forms, tabular data, etc., then HTML5 should work well.
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