The cross platform versus native app question comes up again and again. Everyone knows where we stand on this; I truly believe that natively written apps, targeted for iOS, or Android, or Windows Phone 7, etc. produce more polished, better, more engaging apps.

I've never seen a brilliant app written in a cross platform way. And take a look at the apps that have grabbed recent buzz. Do you think Path or Flipboard ever considered a cross platform toolkit? I think not.

And, then I often get told that the answer is HTML5. One page rendered the same on all devices.

As Wayne was known to have said

"Shhhhyyyeaaah"

Look. Browsers differ, implementations differ, and as a result the output differs. Web designers all over the world still shudder when people mention internet explorer 6. The hacks to get web pages working across browsers was always an issue; and we're being promised that we won't have this in HTML5.

Or, as Wayne was known to have said

"And monkeys may fly out my butt".

How do various browsers support html elements ? Well take a look. Quirksmode tracks browser feature support. Wow. There's a lot of red and green in there. Even a few sort of_s, "_incomplete_s and _almost.

How about CSS ? Well, lets look at that. Oooh. We have yes, no, incomplete and buggy.

Wanna use some HTML5 advanced features. Sure. Go ahead. Just make sure you consult this first, mmmkay?

I know you want basic information, and you want wide reach, using HTML5 is a solution. However the promise of "it will work everywhere" may not be as true as you'd like it to be.

If you want a slick app, that shows your company, brand, service whatever in its best light, do yourself a favour and stay native.


Thanks for reading the Tapadoo blog. We've been building iOS and Android Apps since 2009. If your business needs an App, or you want advice on anything mobile, please get in touch