Roundup of the Latest on HTML5
Facebook’s experience using HTML5 for its mobile app may have been a bit rocky, but not everyone is experiencing the same dilemma. In this roundup, read about a major news organization’s success using HTML5, Mozilla’s plans to reward potential HTML5 developers, and a new report on the battle between HTML5 and native apps.
The Financial Times Has Nothing Bad to Say about HTML5
For an interesting read into how one major news organization has been developing mobile apps using HTML5, check out the Guardian’s recent interview with Rob Grimshaw, the managing director of the Financial Times’s website, FT.com.
Grimshaw explains that in 2011 the Financial Times started using HTML5 because of the relative ease of porting and maintaining its app. According to the interview, Grimshaw appears to be very pleased with the switch from native to HTML5.
From the Guardian: Two years on, Grimshaw says the strategy is proving a success. "I challenge anyone to tell the difference between our HTML5 app and a native app. There is no drawback to working in HTML5, and there are lots of advantages," he says.
Of course, a lot of testing still needs to take place across all the various Android devices, a common dilemma for the modern-day mobile tester.
Build HTML5 Apps for Mozilla and Be Rewarded
Do you have the chops to build cutting-edge apps using HTML5? Do you want a free phone as well? If you answered yes to both of those questions, you should probably apply to Mozilla’s new “Phones for Apps for Firefox OS” program.
TechCrunch has a good write-up on the program, in which applicants can try their hands developing HTML5 apps that take advantage of the new Linux-based open source Firefox OS. If Mozilla likes what an applicant has to offer, the applicant will receive a free Geeksphone Keon, which is Mozilla’s Firefox OS preview device.
The folks at Mozilla write that with the new Firefox OS, apps developed with HTML5 will be able to “make the phone vibrate, make a phone call or send a text message.” Mozilla plans on rolling out the new OS “later this summer.”
Business Insider on the Battle between HTML5 and Native Apps
So, after reading that interview about the Financial Times, are you still on the fence about switching from native apps to HTML5-powered apps? Why don’t you click on over to Business Insider, which posted a “head-to-head comparison of the two.”
According to Business Insider, native apps beat HTML5 when it comes to a rich user experience and performance as well as monetization, but “HTML5 has a leg up in cross-platform deployment costs, update speed and distribution control, available programming expertise, and in solving fragmentation challenges.”
If you want more details, you’ll have to pony up some cash in order to read the full report.
