What is an app Re: Kick starting the Web App UX debate

On Sat, 04 May 2013 19:01:39 +0200, Jo Rabin <jo@linguafranca.org> wrote:

> On 3 May 2013, at 14:15, Dominique Hazael-Massieux <dom@w3.org> wrote:
>> Le jeudi 02 mai 2013 à 20:26 -0700, Scott Jenson a écrit :

>>> I also like short emails.
Me too. And separate labeled threads, so I am starting to split this one.

>>>        1. Striving for a clear definition of what is a 'web app' is
>>>        politically charged and frankly not useful. Just don't go
>>>        there...

+3/4 or so...

>> +1 ; I think at our level what matters is:
>> * how the content/service provider wants her Web-based experience to be
>> perceived like

I think the issue is more complex. One of the traditional strengths of the  
Web is that the user gets a say. Authors tend not to like that, so the  
successful way to make it work tends to allow the author a lot of control  
over the default presentation, in ways that still let the user adapt it  
easily to their particular situation if necessary.

>> * the level of integration the user expects from her interactions with
>> the "app"

I am not sure I understand what this means.

I tend to assume that everything is an app, whether it lets you see a  
single photo of a cat with a stupid tagline, or control a fleet of  
helicopters that do your shopping for you and borrow things from your  
friends' houses. At that point, we can skip through to the questions of  
"what does [class of apps] need to work well?"

> I'm going to disagree on this a) because even if simple questions don't  
> have simple answers they deserve answers of some kind,

Sure. The simple answer I see is that a lot of effort has been spent  
trying to define an app better than I have done above, and I find it hard  
enough to see any value in the outcomes that I have stopped spending my  
time on it and instead skip to the next question.

> and b) because exploring the answers tells us something about the
> subject we clearly don't know, and that we may benefit from knowing.

It may well do so. I've watched a lot of people do it. While the question  
obviously brings out ideas, the answers seem to involve people trying to  
explain that their use cases are the "right" ones, and others might be  
very worthy but aren't "real" apps. Given the things that people sell in  
"app stores" I think it's pretty hard to decide something isn't an app. I  
note that the last 5 years of discussion on "what is an app" is almost  
indistinguishable from the preceding 7 years' discussion about "what is a  
mobile web site", I suspect we are asking the wrong question.

Obviously, finding that a particular kind of app (e.g. "funny pictures  
with silly comments") works well on the web already, while others (e.g.  
"real-time payment management systems running as a service to allow my  
other apps to federate a number of different payment platforms optimising  
for moment-to-moment changes in costs and conditions") don't, is usefu  
guidance for things that we might want to make easier. That's about the  
value I have got from the discussions so far.

cheers

Chaals

-- 
Charles McCathie Nevile - Consultant (web standards) CTO Office, Yandex
       chaals@yandex-team.ru         Find more at http://yandex.com

Received on Saturday, 4 May 2013 19:53:30 UTC