Re: The Browser Is Dead

For the non-iPhone/iPad devs out there: iOS provides the developer with a widget called UIWebView which is the core of the browser.  So, it's a component in a genuine native iOS app.

--- In [email protected], Glenn Vanderburg <glv@...> wrote:
>
> One of the interesting points here is that Apple, at least (I don't know about the others) has put a lot of thought and effort into making it possible to build web apps that really feel native.
> 
> If you have a Basecamp account and also a phone that is supported by 37signals' new mobile Basecamp website, try this:
> 
> 1. Go to http://basecamphq.com/
> 2. Log in and go to your Basecamp dashboard.
> 3. Add a shortcut to the page to your home screen (on the iPhone, you tap the middle button in the toolbar at the bottom of the screen and choose "Add to Home Screen").
> 4. Go back into the browser and close the tab/window/whatever that Basecamp is in.
> 5. Go back to the home screen and tap the Basecamp shortcut you created in step 3.  You'll probably have to log in again.
> 
> On the iPhone, at least, there are almost no cues to indicate that you're in a web app vs. a native app.  Yes, if you pay attention to fine details of button behavior and animations, you can figure it out.  But there's no toolbar at the bottom, no location or search fields at the top.  No browser chrome whatsoever.  Basecamp appears as a separate app in the multitasking interface, and when you switch over to Safari, there is no tab for Basecamp; it's running in a completely separate instance of Safari (as far as the user can tell; I have no idea about the under-the-hood mechanisms involved).
> 
> Basecamp mobile doesn't yet seem to support offline operation (and I don't know how much sense that would make, given the fundamentally cooperative nature of the app) but it could, and if it did, you could start it up and work within it even without a network connection.
> 
> I would be *very* curious to know whether Android phones, Blackberries, or webOS devices support this kind of seamless experience for properly built HTML5 web apps.  (I'm sure they will at some point, and they may already.)
> 
> So the browser is changing how it reveals itself to users and what it means to be a web app.
> 
> ---Glenn
> 
> On Feb 1, 2011, at 11:13 AM, Chris Morris wrote:
> 
> > 
> > A while ago at one of the DFW PragProg meetings, Dave threw out the conversation starter, "The Browser Is Dead." IIRC, he said he thought it to be dead in the same way the landline phone is dead - everyone still has one, but it's on its way out or somesuch. Having specific apps to deal with different data (e.g. map data) seemed to be a better way. (Insert massive memory disclaimers here: I may not only have not remembered Dave's points correctly, but may have in fact dreamed the conversation in a Spring Creek cobbler induced sugar coma).
> > 
> > Today, along with an announcement about BaseCamp mobile being developed as a web site without specific phone apps, DHH tweeted this: RT @dhh: Taking your web app mobile just for iOS in 2011 is like taking your business to the web just for IE4 in 2001.
> > 
> > I myself find the issue an interesting one - the browser hosting apps vs. a desktop hosting apps vs. a phone OS hosting apps - it all seems very blurry to me. But is there any point in debating approaches here, or is it simply a matter of determining your specific needs and not worrying about it? (e.g. Need for Speed for Android needs C library support and trying to do that as a browser app makes no sense).
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > -- 
> > Chris
> > http://improvingenterprises.com
> > http://clabs.org
> > 
> > 
> >
>