Now that my latest book is wrapped up, it’s time for me to choose a new technology project to pursue. On talking with an old friend who’s a software engineer, we came up with a pretty good mobile app idea that we think could be a major hit.
Now, I’ll be honest with you, programming isn’t my strong suit. I’ve done network engineering for most of my professional career and my only programming experience has strictly been HTML and Java/JavaScript for various websites. So thinking about writing an iPhone/iPad app using a language like Objective C is fairly intimidating. Fortunately, my buddy has dabbled in mobile apps before and filled me in on the magic of HTML5.
By using HTML5 for our mobile apps, we can create a cross-platform app that will work with almost any modern web browser. Also, by using a “touch-optimized mobile framework” such as jQuery Mobile, we can tap into the pre-made buttons and UI widgets that look and feel like native apps. The framework is extensive and includes all the buttons, icons, toolbars and form elements that we will need for our project.
But while mobile apps written with HTML5 and jQuery Mobile are great, there’s nothing like a native app. Luckily, there are several ways to turn HTML5 apps into native apps automatically. I’ve been playing with a tool called PhoneGap which will let me create my app using HTML5. PhoneGap will then automatically compile my app into a native app for iOS, Android, WinPhone 7 and several other mobile operating systems.
While some purists might scoff at the idea of using HTML5 for app creation, I feel it’s a great way to jump into the app game if you are like me and have a decent level of HTML and Java/JavaScript experience but not much else. After looking at what our app needs in terms of programatic requirements, HTML5 is more than capable of doing the job. Also, while HTML5 is still a work in progress, we feel that it’s close enough to move forward. Any changes that will be made after the final standard is announced should be minor.
And so the app journey begins. Wish us luck!
