Comments on: Don’t go native UI on your mobile web app

By: Quality Code « Mr Chris Jones

Quality Code « Mr Chris Jones — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 00:33:52 +0000

[...] In my last post I was suggesting to stop cloning the default Apple UI for web applications and start creating custom controls. This time I want to put my words in practice and present you with a rotating wheel select control, 150 lines of code all included (HTML+CSS+JS). [...]

By: Markus Palmanto

Markus Palmanto — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:01:57 +0000

Hmm. It’s not like Apple didn’t need to write any code to make the native switch work the way it does. So any javascript replica will require a certain amount of code to get there as well.

I think that by now it has been proven often enough that users don’t require native controls. They just want their controls to feel right. If you’re targeting the iPhone, the switch — however implemented — better feel the same as the native switch. Or look completely different but compelling, just like you presented in the next post.

By: Matteo Spinelli

Matteo Spinelli — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 03:13:02 +0000

@Jann: what I’m trying to say is: push the device to the limit, don’t feel constrained by Apple’s dogma. Always push the boundaries even by a small factor.

By: Jann

Jann — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 18:14:50 +0000

Speaking as someone who is targeting the App store with PhoneGap and JQTouch, Apple will *more easily* dismiss and deny apps that do not have the iPhone look and feel — or which violate the Human Interface Guidelines.

This make the decision easy: Copy the look and feel of native apps well enough and get your app published on the App Store…

Don’t copy the look and feel of native apps: you go through hell to get Apple to acknowledge that YOUR interface is valid.

This is not always the case, however, case in point:: Monopoly is an AWFUL interface — and still got approved. (I think it is cos they utilize the 3D graphics on the iPhone VERY well.)

’nuff said.

By: Fabrizio

Fabrizio — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:31:15 +0000

Sono completamente d’accordo con te.
Non usare il webkit e il javascript in favore di controlli nativi da programmare in un linguaggio “error prone” come l’objective c è come dover reinventare la ruota.
Si vedono in giro delle applicazioni che si collegano alla rete e fanno il rendering dei dati: tanto vale fare delle web-app !
Sono convinto che la maggior parte degli utenti non faccia caso alla UI, tranne pochi virtuosi, anzi probabilmente la maggior parte degli utenti non sa nemmeno cosa sia un UI.
L’unica giustificazione che vedo per usare objective c è fare un qualcosa di molto reattivo e veloce come un gioco o un’ applicazione che deve far uso di tutta la potenza del processore.
Per presentare liste formattate e fare bottoncini colorati preferisco usare webkit.

By: kirk lazarus

kirk lazarus — Tue, 26 May 2009 11:44:30 +0000

Everybody knows you never go full native.

By: August Lilleaas

August Lilleaas — Tue, 26 May 2009 06:25:35 +0000

I don’t care about other platforms when I create mobile applications. The question I ask myself is: do I want to reach many gadgets, or many people? Almost everyone that uses the application is iPhone users. So I target the iPhone.

By: Pages tagged "apple"

Pages tagged "apple" — Tue, 26 May 2009 01:06:55 +0000

[...] bookmarks tagged apple Don’t go native UI on your mobile web app | Cubiq…. saved by 1 others MinionSasuke bookmarked on 05/25/09 | [...]

By: David Ross

David Ross — Mon, 25 May 2009 22:22:53 +0000

I’m an iPhone developer and have 4 apps in the AppStore. One of them has been in the top ten list of its category for 7 weeks so far. Why do I mention this? Because I’ve tried various things and have a good feel for what works and what doesn’t.

This article is riddled with errors and misinformation. I can’t speak for other devices but users of iPhone WANT a UI that resembles native UI. I’ve tried 3-4 different UIs in one of my apps and the best response (i.e. sales) was when I replicated a lot of Apple’s UI. People just loved it and the feedback specifically mentioned it.

So yeah, go ahead, take this advice and make an app that doesn’t look like anything on your chosen platform and you will suffer the consequences of slow sales/downloads and users bitching about “shitty” UI… l’ve had that kind of feedback myself.

If you don’t believe me, go ahead, make the same mistakes I did.

By: Matteo

Matteo — Mon, 25 May 2009 13:39:15 +0000

Ciao Matteo.

I agree with you: I’ve tested iui & UiUIKit and I soon got bored. I have styled my own CSS with lists & tables (I find the odd/even webkit selector for table rows & columns a pretty helpful one), and I don’t regret going solo.

I find the default Apple controls useful to develop fast in XCode for the iPhone, but I am not going to use those in any iPhone styled website.

Some controls are neat though like the wheel selector. In fact, that’s how I came across your blog and I am giving now a try to your spinning wheel selector.

I didn’t know Florence had such good fellows within the Ruby/Rails/Cocoa environment; i found Matteo Bicocchi’s work also quite interesting.

Regards,
Matteo

(si, un’altro Matteo