You probably don't need a single-page app

Re:You probably don't need a single-page app by tyingq on Sunday February 17, 2019 @09:56AM (#19184729)

Technically best doesn't always win the market. I'd love not writing 3 versions of every piece of functionality.

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Re:You probably don't need a single-page app by AnIdiotOnTheNet on Sunday February 17, 2019 @10:09AM (#19184791)

How's that working out when there's more than one browser you have to account for? What's the difference between polyfill or some framework, and something like Qt or SDL?

Or I suppose we could just all use chromium, but we could also just all use Windows.

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Re:You probably don't need a single-page app by ken on Sunday February 17, 2019 @10:45AM (#19184957)

> What's the difference between polyfill or some framework, and something like Qt or SDL?

As a user, I usually can't even tell when they're using a polyfill on the web (except when they stop, like GitHub did with type=date). (As a developer, I often can't tell the difference, either. Some of them are that good!) So long as you generate HTML/CSS/JS, it doesn't matter to me how you do it. That's as 'native' to the web as you can get.

I can spot Qt a mile away. A lot of the visuals look wrong and a lot of the controls don't behave right. It's frustrating to use, and I always slow way down and double-check my work because, e.g., popup menus show the 'accept' animation even when you cancel them.

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Re:You probably don't need a single-page app by AnIdiotOnTheNet on Sunday February 17, 2019 @10:51AM (#19184994)

> I can spot Qt a mile away. A lot of the visuals look wrong and a lot of the controls don't behave right.

You mean it has no respect for your native toolkit... just like the web?

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Re:You probably don't need a single-page app by tyingq on Sunday February 17, 2019 @11:47AM (#19185326)

"just like the web"

How true is that? I was under the impression that for Android and iOS, Chrome used the native widgets for most things.

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Re:You probably don't need a single-page app by tedunangst on Sunday February 17, 2019 @01:49PM (#19186064)

How many SPAs use native controls with minimal styling?

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Re:You probably don't need a single-page app by tyingq on Sunday February 17, 2019 @10:11AM (#19184806)

I have to write it for the web already. Writing a native Android and a native iOS app is additive if the web version is "good enough".

There's no scenario where I only have to write two native apps. Perhaps there is for other people.

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Re:You probably don't need a single-page app by AnIdiotOnTheNet on Sunday February 17, 2019 @10:19AM (#19184843)

Consider that maybe there are uses for software where the web isn't necessary and isn't even the first choice.

You're a hammer, so everything is a nail. The reality is that the web is a horrible choice for a whole lot of things. It's a document platform with parts of an application platform shoe-horned in and bolted on, and the result looks like a garbage fire to people who come from the land of native software.

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Re:You probably don't need a single-page app by tyingq on Sunday February 17, 2019 @10:30AM (#19184903)

I'm not sure I understand why browsers getting closer to native apps ruins anything for anyone else. You're still able to hammer your nails however you want.

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Re:You probably don't need a single-page app by criddell on Sunday February 17, 2019 @12:13PM (#19185476)

I'm sure it's nice for you, but users like me aren't happy that every mouse move and page load is cataloged and studied and shared with partners. At least with a native app I can add a firewall rule to restrict it's ability to use the internet.

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Re:You probably don't need a single-page app by jhall1468 on Sunday February 17, 2019 @12:23PM (#19185547)

Users like you represent a tiny, tiny minority. The majority of people couldn't care less about google tracking their mouse movements.

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Re:You probably don't need a single-page app by noisem4ker on Sunday February 17, 2019 @12:51PM (#19185731)

The majority of people are not aware that someone is tracking their mouse movements.

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Re:You probably don't need a single-page app by criddell on Sunday February 17, 2019 @12:49PM (#19185716)

I'm guessing you don't live in the EU.

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Re:You probably don't need a single-page app by leadingthenet on Sunday February 17, 2019 @10:47AM (#19184972)

You're just externalising the time you save as a cost to your users.

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Re:You probably don't need a single-page app by tyingq on Sunday February 17, 2019 @11:08AM (#19185098)

It's equally possible you're doing the same thing by forcing users to download a native app. It's kind of hard to talk about in the abstract. Some things work better in an app, for other things it adds nothing notable.

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Re:You probably don't need a single-page app by WrtCdEvrydy on Sunday February 17, 2019 @11:34AM (#19185245)

> not writing 3 versions of every piece of functionality.

React Native and ReactJS are a move in the right direction.

I wonder if we'll get React NativeJS

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Re:You probably don't need a single-page app by tomduncalf on Sunday February 17, 2019 @12:51PM (#19185737)

Not sure exactly what you mean by React NativeJS but perhaps React Native for Web (https://github.com/necolas/react-native-web) is along the lines of what you are thinking?

Works remarkably well. It’s already used for Twitter’s mobile site

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Re:You probably don't need a single-page app by mycall on Sunday February 17, 2019 @11:30AM (#19185223)

Have you tried Angular+NativeScript? one piece for all (minus UWP).

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Re:You probably don't need a single-page app by Midnightas on Sunday February 17, 2019 @11:36AM (#19185253)

wxWidgets would help with that.

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Re:You probably don't need a single-page app by pmlnr on Sunday February 17, 2019 @09:58AM (#19184744)

Except when all your content comes through the pipe, in which case native is just a glorified iframe.

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Re:You probably don't need a single-page app by hombre_fatal on Sunday February 17, 2019 @11:19AM (#19185153)

Native has downsides too, like having almost zero control over the client and being unable to link other people like you can on the web. Just a bunch of silos by design.

Native is only a trade-off that has great performance at other expenses.

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Re:You probably don't need a single-page app by saagarjha on Sunday February 17, 2019 @03:08PM (#19186529)

Not always. There are times when you don’t want to download an app for every little thing, though the opportunity to be able to do so is nice. There’s a reason we have browsers and not just everything coming through in its own individual app.

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Re:You probably don't need a single-page app by collyw on Monday February 18, 2019 @10:44AM (#19191445)

Web is best because it is platform independent.

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