I am increasingly doing more work with Javascript (for web runtimes, widgets and PhoneGap apps) and have a new observation. I previously wrote how, when mobile device APIs become much more capable, they will, in turn, expose underlying functional fragmentation.

That was three years ago and device APIs haven’t evolved significantly. Instead, what have evolved are Javascript UI frameworks and techniques that provide a better native-like look and feel. It’s possible to create apps for Nokia (WRT), Android (Webkit) and iPhone (webkit) that have controls similar to those in native applications. Unfortunately, these are separate Javascript libraries for each platform. If you create a Javascript app for one platform, it looks like that platform on any platform. There’s no way of creating one native-looking web app that runs on all platforms.

Unfortunately, I also think that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to create a tool to mesh together these libraries as part of a designer tool. The UIs differ too much and you would end up with the lowest common denominator in terms of functionality.

Related Articles:

• OS and Browser Fragmentation
• Android W3C Widgets
• WebView Apps and LWUIT
• There is no WebKit on Mobile
• WebView Applications
• Mobile Browser Differences
• New Nokia WRT Plugins
• Widget API Fragmentation
• Runtimes, Frameworks and Fragmentation
• Mobile Apps vs Web
• Web Runtimes
• More on Mobile Applications and Web Services
• Is the Future of Mobile the Web?
• Widgets, Mobile Web 2.0 and Javascript
• Nokia S60 Widgets and Web Runtime

This entry was posted on Monday, July 26th, 2010 at 4:37 pm and is filed under Mobile, html5. Both comments and pings are currently closed.