The problem: build a somewhat complex form that submits data to MySQL+PHP back-end. Requirements include:
Accessible from browsers running on mobiles, tablets and desktops
Must be completely platform independent; works well on Edge, Safari, Chrome, and other modern browsers.
Must be implemented so that in the future, native versions can be implemented using the same code-base.
Based on my research, Ionic seems to be the best fit. However, I don't see anything about using Ionic for web-apps on their official website.
Questions:
Can Ionic be used to meet the above requirements? If yes, what is the best way to use Ionic for web-apps? Is there an official guideline from Ionic for this?
How else would you go about meeting the above requirements if not using Ionic?
Thanks.
Ionic is built for developing mobile apps / progressive web apps. If you are looking for something which can be accesses through browsers Angular is the best option. Progressive web apps also will be something you can look into. Except for native functionalities in mobile and routing in browsers , angular code will be reusable.
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I want to use Ionic Framework for my mobile website.
I wonder that is there any risk for run Ionic Framework on mobile browsers.
I'll only use framework's CSS and JS which includes modals, popups, menus etc.
I built a prototype and I tested it on all versions of iPhone and 2-3 versions of Samsung. I haven't seen any problem on these devices. But I want to learn all risks before I start to real project which includes static pages and quotation steps. I'll use UI router by using HTML5 pushstate.
To learn your opinions, makes me more confident.
Thanks in advance.
Kindest...
There are certain caveats to this:
1. Ionic doesn't have a web server, and its testing server uses UIWebview and will not allow for POST requests.
2. Ionic is more optimized for app that is resident on the device. There are certain capabilities (ngCordova plugins for camera...etc.) that won't be available on mobile web.
Your scenario ("framework's CSS and JS which includes modals, popups, menus etc.") - should be fine, since you're only using functionality within Webview. You'd have to build a custom JS library that would only include presentation layer features.
The title pretty much says it all. I was asked this question today and really didn't know the answer.
Ionic is not intended to build desktop, or even desktop browser based applications.
From the official docs :
Ionic is focused on building native/hybrid mobile apps rather than
mobile websites.
As such, our browser support tends to be whatever Web View API is
available to native apps on a given platform. For Ionic 1.0.0
"uranium-unicorn", that means UIWebView for iOS 7+, and Android 4.1
and up. Windows Phone and FirefoxOS support is on our roadmap.
Even if you implement a browser website using ionic, the rendered output would rather weird.
Infact, Ionic has itself implemented it's website using bootstrap ;)
We plan to create a hosted web app with AngularJS. As UI Framework we found Ionic and Onsen to work well with AngularJS. Both of this frameworks promote that they are made particularly for Hybrid Apps. But us I understand correctly, both frameworks are based on web technologies. So what are the drawbacks when using the suggested UI frameworks for non Hybrid Apps? Is it mainly the Browser support?
Thanks
Well, both Ionic and Onsen are made particularly for Hybrid Mobile Apps. You just won't be able to use it even for tablet apps without customization (If I am wrong, please correct me) just because they target the limited viewport and incorporate phone UX patterns.
Also, they are made with PhoneGap in mind (the apps will be hosted in the WebView component), and addresses some common WebView problems, e.g GPU acceleration for better performance.
If you need just some UI framework for a simple Web App you'd better have a look at Twitter Boostrap or Zurb Foundation. For a complex case you may even consider Sencha instead of Angular.
There is a part of Ionic that expects the Cordova/PhoneGap Device plugin to be installed. It helps with displaying on Android and iOS appropriately, as well as increasing the size of header bars for iOS 7. That wont be an issue for web though, since you'll have the browser's "chrome" taking up that space.
You may loose some of the buttery smoothness in things like page transitions because the template files need to travel over a (often cellular) connection to the internet, but your app will most certainly work if built with Ionic or Onses over the web.
Things changed considerably over last few months.
Both frameworks now support splitview so they can be used for tablet devices. Subjectively Onsen UI has a better support (it is much more configurable), but Ionic is also not bad. This can translate to smaller desktop browsers screens.
You should also consider that Onsen UI has a dedicated desktop browsers support (all web-kit browsers). Ionic framework will also work on desktop browsers, but it was not fully tested or optimized for such environment.
Biggest problem here is that both frameworks were never meant to be used on larger screens. They look oversized and bloated. If you ever worked with jQuery Mobile (on desktop browsers) you will understand this problem.
There is nothing stopping you from doing that - it might even be a smart approach for a mobile first design approach. The advantage is that you could rapidly iterate an idea an then invest in a native or platform specific app depending on user feedback/metrics.
The main drawback would be the user expectations for your UI and application logic which are different for a web page and a native app. For example the back button will be duplicated in the browser and in your header. You could use some platform specific CSS or configurations to hide it. Then there is your application state and user data - will you save it in local storage, session or database? This depends on your app and best judgement.
There will be some browser issues which may not be addressed in the core of Ionic and Onsen because they are not targeted to work with IE6/7 (see angular browser support), for example, but you can resolve those by having a graded browser support policy.
I am looking into building an intranet based app which can support different mobile platforms.
I have looked into phonegap, sencha touch and jquery mobile. I am confused as to how the business logic can be incorporated on the client side ? Any input will be appreciated.
Phonegap is just a web browser that has an access to native apis. So you can use more or less any technology that a normal web browser can interpret.
With that in mind, for a business logic you have to general options: 1) create an api somewhere on you server and just make ajax calls from you application and/or 2) use javascript. This is the only language that can be used for business logic inside phonegap (beside the native java, objective-c and etc).
Out of all those mobile frameworks available, I would suggest you to go for Sencha Touch with PhoneGap. The reason I prefer Sencha Touch over Jquery Mobile is that Sencha Touch is far more smoother than JQM when it comes to page transition and navigation. Also, the extensive documentation from Sencha gives you a quick start on building mobile apps for both Android and iOS.
You may use PhoneGap if you would like to access any of the native features like Camera, Contacts etc.,
Here are some useful links:
http://www.sencha.com/learn/touch/
http://www.sencha.com/learn/getting-started-with-sencha-touch-2
http://miamicoder.com/sencha-touch-tutorials/
I am currently looking for a tool/workflow to support me in creating a mobile version of our website. Due to the main subject of our website, this should be a dedicated mobile version instead of a responsive version of our main site.
I came across yeoman and it looks really promising with a lot of features that I would be using like CSS and JS minifying, Spriting etc., a lot of tools that support me for the deployment of the webpage.
However as far as I can see the main focus for yeoman is on "normal" web apps, not for mobile. Am I right? Has someone used yeoman already for a mobile website and what was the experience and/or points to look out for? Are there any other alternatives to consider?
Try mobile-boilerpate generator for yeoman.
It scaffolds out H5BP Mobile Boilerplate
You are right Yeoman is for any web app you want to build; not just mobile specific.
For a mobile version of a website; they can be made similar to desktop sites although you still have to keep responsiveness in mind as not all devices are the same size.
In terms of a framework to consider, Lungo is a brilliant UI framework that can be used to make a native looking website.