Slides from a presentation I gave at these conferences:
— Big Design
— Front Porch
— Thunder Plains
— Web Afternoon
I co-presented at Big Design with Matt Baxter.
http://twitter.com/mbxtr
1. HTML5 Can’t Do That
Surveying the Mobile Landscape
Matt Baxter
UX Designer
Nathan Smith
Principal UI Architect
2. Take notes if you like. Or, you can get the slides here…
http://j.mp/html5-cant
3. Obligatory Intro Slide…
— on Twitter: @mbxtr & @nathansmith
— UI Developers (caffeine
code)
— We do UX/web/mobile stuff at
— We have mixed feelings about HTML5
4. In all honesty…
I BUILD THE LEGACY
APPS OF TOMORROW!
And hey, so do you. We’re creating software UI in a
document language. It’s a wonder anything works.
5. State of mobile in 2007, before the iPhone was introduced…
http://flickr.com/photos/djwudi/382030798
23. Firefox can run the Unreal
game engine in native JS!
Okay, so it’s not mobile.
But it’s still cool, right?
24.
25. Fun Fact:
iOS game Candy Crush Saga
makes $850,000 per day.*
*Assuming this peak number, sustained over an entire
calendar year, that’s annual revenue of $310,250,000.
http://j.mp/candy-crush-story
26. Fun Fact:
Amazon’s revenue is roughly
$167,378,082 per day.*
*61B total revenue in 2012. After operating expenses
of 45.9B, that’s a gross profit of approximately 15.1B.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=amzn+income+statement&annual
27. So, at the very least…
HTML5 is what you use to buy
things that don’t run in HTML5.
28. This quote is sometimes (mis?) attributed to Napoleon…
“It is not enough that
I succeed, everyone
else must fail.”
He said, as he
reached for the
phone in his pocket.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon
29. So what?
Hopefully by now we can all
agree that HTML5 needn’t fail
for native apps to be considered
successful, or vice versa.
30. How we see the mobile landscape…
Approaches to Mobile Development
Web Development
Responsive or
Mobile Web App
Native Development
PhoneGap
Titanium
Xamarin
Native
HTML, CSS, JS
JavaScript API
Cross-platform C# API
C#, Java, or Objective-C
or
or
Android, Blackberry, iOS,
Windows Phone, etc.
Multiple OS (browsers)
or
Android, iOS
or
Android, iOS,
Windows Phone
Android, Blackberry, iOS,
Windows Phone, etc.
Application Services API — JSON to/from XML, etc.
Java
AS/400
.NET
MySQL
Node.js
PHP
Oracle
Python
PostgreSQL
Business Logic and Data Aggregation
Ruby
SQL Server
31. When making an app, especially if not 100% native…
It’s important to strive for 60
FPS* and avoid interactions
that feel awkward, lest you fall
into the “uncanny valley” of UX.
*FPS = Frames per second. Most movies are 24 FPS. Video games aim for 60 FPS.
32. In case you are unfamiliar with the term “uncanny valley”
The uncanny valley is a hypothesis in
the field of human aesthetics which
holds that when human app features
look and move almost, but not
exactly, like natural human beings
native apps, it causes a response of
revulsion among human observers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley
36. How PhoneGap Works
— It embeds a WebView in a native app
— Native app gives access to OS API’s
— All the UI is built via HTML/CSS
— JavaScript handles everything else
— The app wrapper compiles via…
Xcode, Eclipse, Visual Studio, or
“the cloud” build.phonegap.com
http://phonegap.com
38. Benefits of PhoneGap
— It is “the web you already know”
— Debugging via desktop browser
— Access to device API’s (GPS, etc)
— Strives to implement W3C specs
— Camera API, etc.
— Supports Windows Phone, too
http://phonegap.com
39. Drawbacks of PhoneGap
— WebView dependent on OS
— “Browser” on old Android
— IE on Windows Phone, etc.
— Not as performant as “native”
— Presupposes mad web skills
— (Okay, maybe that’s a “pro”)
http://phonegap.com
40.
41. “Topcoat is a brand new open
source CSS library designed
to help developers build web
apps with an emphasis on
speed. It evolved from the
Adobe design language
developed for Brackets, Edge
Reflow, and feedback from
the PhoneGap app developer
community.”
— Brian LeRoux
47. Benefits of Titanium
— Native UI (not necessarily look & feel)
— Code organization: Alloy MVC approach
— Views are XML, JS for Models/Controllers
— Build for iOS, Android, and Blackberry
— Some code reuse across platforms
— Entirely JavaScript based
— Uses CommonJS’s AMD approach
— Except for WebView (+HTML/CSS)
http://appcelerator.com/titanium
48. Drawbacks of Titanium
— Slow apps… I end up using WebViews
— Workflow: code, compile, rinse, repeat
— It’s XML/JS, but no DOM traversal
— No first-party way to test your code
— Regression testing is difficult
— Added file size, due to Ti framework
— Non-transferrable support license
— Can’t hand off to a coworker
http://appcelerator.com/titanium
49. Abstraction layers tend to be
harder to debug than “native”
languages: C#, Objective-C,
or Java — when using an IDE
such as Visual Studio, Xcode,
Eclipse, or Android Studio.
With “the web,” you have
familiar developer tools, built
into all major browsers.
52. Benefits of Xamarin
— Speed… It compiles to native code
— 1:1 mapping of native API’s to C#
— Code reuse: Android, iOS, Windows
— Visual IDE, lets designers see the UI
— Big-name apps use it (Rdio, anyone?)
— Transferrable support license
http://xamarin.com
53.
54. Drawbacks of Xamarin
— Still need to learn the native API’s
— Doesn’t abstract that away
— Need to know C# (“pro” if you do)
— Added file size, due to Mono framework
— Commercial, has licensing fees
http://xamarin.com
56. Developer Sites for Various Platforms
http://developer.android.com — http://developer.apple.com — http://developer.windowsphone.com
57. Benefits of Native Development
— Default OS look & feel (UI conventions)
— Performance (“closer to the metal”)
— Access to device hardware (GPS, etc)
— Benefit from latest OS enhancements
— Able to hire specialists in that area
http://developer.android.com — http://developer.apple.com — http://developer.windowsphone.com
58. Drawbacks of Native Development
— Tied to the particular OS you built for
— Maintaining a multi OS team/skill-set
— Keeping app in sync with OS updates
— Having multiple devices for testing
http://developer.android.com — http://developer.apple.com — http://developer.windowsphone.com
64. A serendipitous use of HTML5
HTML5 Cant Do That
Last year, we were anticipating writing a lot of
JavaScript to generate a barcode for a mobile
app. To my surprise, I found a barcode font:
“IDAutomationHC39M.” What would’ve taken
days was mere minutes, adjusting font-size.
http://www.dafont.com/idautomationhc39m.font
65. But what about JavaScript? — Glad you asked! :)
Helpful utility libraries:
— jQuery or Zepto
¬ jquery.com
¬ zeptojs.com
— Underscore or LoDash
¬ underscorejs.org
¬ lodash.com
— Handlebars
¬ handlebarsjs.com
66. There are also plenty of JavaScript MV* Frameworks
¬ angularjs.org
— Backbone
¬ backbonejs.org
— Ember
¬ emberjs.com
*MVC: Model, View, Controller — MVVM: Model, View, View Model, etc.
— Knockout
& Durandal
¬ knockoutjs.com
¬ durandaljs.com
>
— Angular
We’ve begun using this
70. SunSpider JS benchmarks, circa 2010 (lower is better)
http://sealedabstract.com/rants/why-mobile-web-apps-are-slow
71.
72. Safari on iOS 6 vs. Safari on iOS 7
http://www.mobilexweb.com/blog/safari-ios7-html5-problems-apis-review
73. So… Web, Cross-Platform, or Native?
Key Considerations:
— Features needed
— Target market
— Existing skill-sets
— Talent availability
— User experience
74. How we see the mobile landscape (revised)…
Approaches to Mobile Development
Responsive or
Mobile Web App
X
Uncanny valley
Web Development
PhoneGap
Titanium
or
Android, Blackberry, iOS,
Windows Phone, etc.
Multiple OS (browsers)
Xamarin
Native
JavaScript API
HTML, CSS, JS
or
Native Development
Cross-platform C# API
C#, Java, or Objective-C
Android, iOS
or
or
Android, iOS,
Windows Phone
Android, Blackberry, iOS,
Windows Phone, etc.
Application Services API — JSON to/from XML, etc.
Java
AS/400
.NET
MySQL
Node.js
PHP
Oracle
Python
PostgreSQL
Business Logic and Data Aggregation
Ruby
SQL Server
75. Why? Because: “I fight for the users.” — Tron
http://www.hdwallpapers.in/tag/tron.html
78. Highlights of Knockout.js
— Model, View, View Model (MVVM)
— Two-way data binding
— If user interacts with page, you can
— reflect these changes in your data
— Declarative UI: in markup, not in JS
— Observables: If data changes, UI updates
http://knockoutjs.com
79. Whenever I see “ko” in the code, I think of Street Fighter…
http://streetfighter.wikia.com
80. Highlights of Durandal.js
— Built on KO, picks up where it left off
— Routing: based on changes to URL
— View/state change transitions
— Async data fetching, with Promises
— Manage code modules with Require.js
— Enforces consistent code structure
http://durandaljs.com
81. Around the office, we refer to Durandal.js as “Duran Durandal”
http://fanart.tv/artist/1a1cd7f3-e5df-4eca-bae2-2757c9e656b5/duran-duran
84. Below a certain width,
the layout switches
to a “mobile” view.
The table rows & cells
are display:block, and
text from each <th>
is inserted as a label,
preceding the data.
87. // In a real app, this data would potentially be dynamic.
// But for the purposes of this demo, is hard-coded here.
[
{
"first_name": "Amy",
"last_name": "Poehler",
"character_first_name": "Leslie",
"character_last_name": "Knope"
},
{
"first_name": "Nick",
"last_name": "Offerman",
"character_first_name": "Ron",
"character_last_name": "Swanson"
},
{
"first_name": "Aziz",
"last_name": "Ansari",
"character_first_name": "Tom",
"character_last_name": "Haverford"
},
...
]
88. // Extend KO array, to make it sortable
ko.observableArray.fn.sort_by = function(key, reverse) {
var self = this;
self.sort(function(a, b) {
var a_key = String(a[key]);
var b_key = String(b[key]);
var n, val;
if (reverse) {
n = a_key - b_key;
val = !isNaN(n) ? n : b_key.localeCompare(a_key);
}
else {
n = b_key - a_key;
val = !isNaN(n) ? n : a_key.localeCompare(b_key);
}
return val;
});
};
89. // APP.models
models: {
// APP.models.table_view_model
table_view_model: function() {
var self = this;
// This data comes from "/json/data.js"
APP.data = APP.data || ko.observableArray(DATA_JSON);
self.data = APP.data;
}
},
...
90. // APP.init.sort_by
sort_by: function(key) {
var event = 'click.sort_by';
var str = '.table-data th[data-key] a';
body.off(event).on(event, str, function(ev) {
var el = $(this);
var th = el.closest('th');
var th_other = th.siblings('th');
var key = th.attr('data-key');
var sort = th.attr('data-sort');
var asc = 'ascending';
var desc = 'descending';
var dir = asc;
if (!sort || sort === asc) {
dir = desc;
}
var reverse = dir !== asc;
th.addClass(on).attr('data-sort', dir);
th_other.removeClass(on).removeAttr('data-sort');
APP.data.sort_by(key, reverse);
});
},