The future is the world of web apps, or the world of native apps.

The future is the world of web apps, or the world of native apps? As designers, we should try to improve the client experience to the best, or in the Web application level to do more design? This has always been the topic of our relationship. Then, we should first three-dimensional understanding of the Web app and native app.

Web App

The web does not need to be installed, and the ability to adapt to device fragmentation is superior to the app, which requires only XHTML, CSS, and JavaScript to be executed in any mobile browser. As the iphone's WebKit browsing experience upgrades, web apps developed for mobile devices such as the iphone, which have WebKit browsing the kernel, also have a seamless user experience like the app.

Figure 1 Google Voice and Google Gmail are examples of web App design

Advantages of Web Apps:

Low development cost

--low cost of adapting to multiple mobile devices

--Cross-platform and terminal

--Iterative Update easy

No installation costs

Disadvantages of Web Apps:

--browsing experience in the short term can not exceed the native application

--offline mode is not supported (HTML5 will solve this problem)

--The news is not timely

--weak ability to invoke local file system

Fig. 2 Street and Baidu novels, using HTML5 to achieve a close native experience effect

Ii. Native App

App because it is located above the platform layer, the ability to access and compatibility is better, can support online or offline, message push or local resources access, camera dialing function of the transfer. But because the equipment is fragmented, the development cost of the app is much higher, maintain multiple versions of the update upgrade more cumbersome, the user's installation threshold is also relatively high. But more optimistically, the App Store has fostered a better user-pays model, so in Apple's ecosystem, the developer's profit model is a state of mind, and other harsh are on the way.

Figure 3 Gowalla and awesome note, a classic design case for mobile customers

Advantages of Native App:

--Provide the best user experience, the best quality user interface, the most gorgeous interaction

--Provide different experiences for different platforms

--Save bandwidth cost

--access to local resources

--The profit model is clear

Native app's Disadvantage:

--more trouble porting to different platforms

--Higher cost of maintaining multiple versions

--Need confirmation by store or harsh

--profits need to be split with third parties

Iii. Integration

Mr. Jobs once talked about the issue, saying that the web is the future, although at this stage native gives users a better experience. If today's developers do not use web technology effectively, then he is behind the time. But if you rely too much on the web and you don't have to native, that's not necessarily good.

There are three types of apps on the iOS platform: Web apps, accessed through browsers; Native app, installed via App Store; the third category, called Hybrid app, looks like a Native app, but there's only one UI WebView, which accesses a web App, like the first application of the street side network is a client-side section, In fact, it is HTML5 's Web page, and then launched a real native application. A bit more thorough, such as Palm Baidu and Taobao client Android version, go is also hybrid app route, but the Palm Baidu package is not webview, but its own browsing kernel, so experience more like the client, more efficient.

Figure 4 Palm Baidu and Naver client are the architecture of Web app+native App

Figure 5 Palm Baidu architecture Description, client nesting service side, to ensure efficient service iteration and update

Google's Chrome OS and Android are operating systems, but it's two paths away. Chrome is walking the path of the Web App. As the Chrome Web app released from the Chrome OS conference shows, Google wants to pave the window for the future of Chrome OS, encouraging more developers to develop WEB apps with an app experience, as the Chrome OS said on the website-"nothing but The web. And Android is going the way of native app. Android harsh can be seen from Android as the operating system of the mobile platform, which is clearly more focused on application development. Perhaps the former Microsoft chief architect Ray Ozzie's comments were more sharply: "Google's strategy is to gamble on Android (app-dominated), while Chrome OS (entirely web-based) is betting on the future." ”

So we can get such an inspiration, you want to serve the future, must continue to follow the footsteps of technology development, provide better Web services and experience. But people are living in the present, for the immediate needs of users, but also must provide the current browsing experience the best client products. However, the client is cumbersome and slow, it can not be like the traditional Web page, one has the gorgeous turn, can only plan a good function point, step-by-step iteration, after all, the user's upgrade costs too high. So there's the architecture of this web App + Native app that gives users the best browsing experience and upgrade iterations under existing conditions.

Iv. Future Trends

While we are all willing to believe that when the experience of the web and the experience of the native gradually approaching, people are more willing to spend on content acquisition, rather than software interaction, but at this stage of the interactive experience is the main impact on people to get content of the major short board. So, the trend is there, but we can't predict the time lag.

As with the application of the computer side, although the trend of the web is now very obvious, but still can not replace some of your native installed tools, game class applications, the Web technology does not achieve the efficiency of local applications and experience, the Web can not subvert native.

In the end, the web is just what we as designers and developers expect an idealized result, the development cost is low, easy cross-platform, iterative update fast, but obviously, the current stage of user expectations and mobile phone equipment manufacturers are looking forward to experience more than a native. The web is a trend for us. Native app + Web app may be a good solution for complex products in this transition, which may be very long.