HTML5 has control of the desktop but it's hard to rule.

HTML5 is growing in importance and will continue to be a dominant platform in many user cases for the foreseeable future. Enterprise architects need to consider incorporating HTML5 capabilities into their application development tool chains, especially for browser-based applications running within the enterprise and consumer-facing applications accessed via PC browsers. Now HTML5 and CSS3 have taken over Flash and Silverlight, becoming the de facto standard for browser-based multimedia capabilities on the desktop.

It is also important to use HTML5 to develop mobile applications in a suitable context. As the IDC program director Al Hilwa, HTML5 typically refers to applications delivered through browsers, while native refers to apps written in platform-related languages, including hybrid apps that combine HTML5 and client-specific libraries. Hilwa recently published a report called "HTML5 development."

The many trade-offs of HTML5

Some companies, such as the Financial Times, have seen great benefits from using the HTML5 focus as a means of avoiding the use of shop-related costs. At the same time, other companies, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, have been clamor from HTML5 development to native development, because only the latter can provide a richer and more powerful application.

Hilwa points out that HTML5 applications face challenges from insufficient developer tools, immature developer skills, security, and weak browser implementations. But at the same time, it offers a number of potential benefits, such as allowing a single code base to be deployed across platforms, vendor support, and ecosystem drive, including a range of single point tools, frameworks, and solutions.

Hilwa is expected to see HTML5 's greatest success in the application of in-house employees to specific categories such as access to enterprise resources. Now HTML5 is being heavily used on the desktop, and mobile HTML5 is becoming increasingly popular in casual gaming. Hilwa is expected to see the greatest use of a hybrid that combines the basic HTML5 code with a native repository for better performance with cross-platform reuse.

Full of challenges

The HTML5 platform itself faces many challenges, from a lack of complete standards across all browsers, immature developer tools, and performance impacts on native device feature support. In addition, the rich feature set required by the HTML5 delivery of modern apps relies on a mix of technologies, including HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and WEBRTC, each facing its own developer tools, implementation, and security issues.

On the mobile platform, many developers want to weave HTML5 functionality into components that access native device functionality, using a hybrid app to blend HTML5 and native code libraries, such as the Apache phonegap that Adobe contributes to Apache Foundation.

Gartner predicts that by 2016 more than 50% of mobile apps will be hybrid, and the Agency recommends that organizations evaluate the development framework and look for frameworks that allow them to use the same set of code libraries to develop native, mixed, and Web applications. Companies should also consider merging development activities across the platform framework, Gartner's research vice President Van Baker said. This trend is reflected in the developer Recruitment Bulletin, which found that HTML5 experience is the fastest-growing and most-searched online work Bulletin Search keyword, according to the Job list service indeed.com analysis. It is now the number one keyword, surpassing iOS (3rd) and Android (4th place).

Mobile

However, looking at the mobile end, pure HTML5 development faces intense competition for competitive solutions, including hybrid native development, a report by Mobile development tool vendor Appcelerator based on its latest survey of mobile developers.

Michael King, director of corporate strategy at Appcelerator, told Searchsoa: "We find that the HTML5 interest in mobility is not bland, which is a common phenomenon." If you are developing a more mass-market application, or looking for a user to move through the business process internally, it can be said that the response to HTML5 is poor. Mobile HTML5 developers encounter three key challenges-performance, security, and access to device sensors. In the case of offline access, the HTML5 application can only handle things that are cached in the browser, which has limitations in terms of security, and in most cases the application logic cannot be cached. ”

There are also restrictions on access to native sensors and APIs that HTML5 does not have. The IPhone 5 has 6 sensors, and the latest iOS has more than 1500 pure HTML5 applications that are hard to exploit. "What's the point of developing a map application that can't guide employees, or a performance application without insurance pricing," King said.

When the scope is more important than performance

At the same time, King also saw that in some specific application categories, everyone wholeheartedly to HTML5 open arms. He found that the use of HTML5 in the form of content consumption and customer access was growing. But interactive applications, games and maps applications that have serious device requirements are avoiding HTML5. "When we talk to developers, they all like the idea and commitment of HTML5 to write responsive web apps that run on both the largest tablet and the smallest smartphone," he explains. ”

The disadvantages of some HTML5 in form and simple customer access applications are not obvious. The form does not require access to a large number of sensors and performance is not a big problem. Customer access apps are not subject to application store reviews, and often are accessed via a link in e-mail.

Although King did see some opportunities for desktop apps and hybrid mobile apps to use HTML5 encoding, it's important to remember the different use cases for these platforms. "I need apps that run on the desktop and on smartphones, and that doesn't take into account how many people are using these things." I recommend different applications for desktop and mobile development, each of which takes into account the different workflows of those platforms. ”

The new specification expands the scope of the HTML5

By contrast, some other developers believe HTML5 is starting to play a leading role in mobile application development. Tyler Wassell, a software development manager for Web application development software, sees a growing interest in HTML5, surpassing interest in native life. He explained: "HTML5 with the new JavaScript API brings strong communication, Web data storage, file management capabilities to browsers, and more importantly to mobile browsers." Because of this I think we're going to see more and more mobile web apps instead of native mobile apps. ”

As JavaScript, the Web programming language, allows developers to leverage HTML5 capabilities, Wassell points to growing interest in using the language. There are now a lot of discussions about full stack JavaScript development, such as NoSQL databases like MANGODB, application servers with Node.js, and a growing number of JavaScript client frameworks for rendering content, such as Angular.js, Ember.js and Backbone.js. Wassel said: "In Web application development, I see that JAVASCRIPT/HTML5 is evolving and dominates the web." ”

In addition, the HTML5 core competencies and developer tool improvements also make HTML5 more and more useful for more and more applications. For example, Wassell sees a need for data-driven applications that can continue to work when the Internet connection does not exist. To achieve this, developers turn to HTML5 application caching to store application resources. "We can't do that without HTML5," he said.

Other powerful HTML5 features, such as Web Sockets, Server Sent Events, Web HTC, have also aroused great interest. "Some of these features are not fully mature, but there is a bright future in improving communication between Web browsers and servers, which can lead to more native mobile application experiences such as push announcements," Wassell said. ”

In the long run, IDC's Hilwa is expected to see the coexistence of HTML5 and native mobile applications instead of replacing each other. But the native application platform will remain the main delivery tool for mobile applications.