Re: How can HTML5 compete with Native?

>
> Sure. But to make it the one of the top two priorities of what's missing
> on the Web platform seems quite a stretch.
> Can we get offline, auto-rotation lock, smooth scrolling, fast canvas,
> etc. first?


I would agree that offline needs to be fixed asap. Auto-rotation lock is
also very important.

I am not proposing leaving everything behind and focusing sorely on WiFi
and Power Management. Nevertheless, studying an already successful mobile
app ecosystem such as Google Play leads me to the conclusion that these two
APIs are important.

As far as performance is concerned (smooth scrolling, fast canvas, even DOM
rendering) I think we are in desperate need of tools right now. What I 've
learned is that "if you can't replicate a bug, you can't fix it", "if you
can't measure an app, you can't improve it". Native SDKs have what we call
an IDE (which is essentially an editor with debugging, profiling and
deploying functionality). With HTML5, coding and debugging are two separate
processes. You code on the editor (e.g. vim or sublime) and test on the
browser (e.g. using Chrome developer tools). At the same time, browser
developer tools are difficult to learn. The Gmail team asked help from the
Chrome team to debug gmail that had serious issues with memory. They
managed to fix the problem. But normal developers, on the other hand, don't
have access to the chrome team. So, if it's rocket science, how are they
going to use it?

What I also find very interesting is tools like famo.us. While we were
talking about performance these guys just went and fixed it. And not by
introducing some new technology, but by using correctly the existing
technology. The same happened with FT, Goo Engine and more. So, again the
issue here is not the technology, it's education.

Dimitris Michalakos