Native or HTML5?

Starting a new project, you’re likely to explore what would be the correct platform as a first step. Javascript has a lot of buzz right now. There seems to be a movement to do everything in the Javascript language. At the moment you can Write your app with JS, script your server with Node.js, query your data base in JS using MongoDB. Wow, sounds like you can do it all in JS! This is neat but, I feel it’s important to not lose sight of the forest through the trees. In any project it’s really about choosing the right tool for the job.

If we’re doing everything in JS does that mean the browser is the new OS? I don’t think so. There’s a bit of the emperors new clothes in this type of thinking. The thing about JS and apps in the browser is they just don’t live up the promise in many cases. Or, maybe I should say that there is to much promise. JS has a lot of hiccups and performance issues. Writing a program across HTML, CSS, and JS has a lack of elegance, and feels crude and verbose at times. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. Again it’s about choosing the right tool. The big draw of JS for everything is that it leverages a common tool set, on a common platform. This can save time and money which is good, but if you are making an inferior product is it worth it?

I don’t want to sound like I have some axe to grind. I’ve had a lot of fun with JS, and if it’s the right tool for the job I’m more than happy to use it. My point is HTML5 has so much hype people are treating it like it can do no wrong, like its the wunderkind that can do anything. I just want to get real here. JS can do anything, and I suppose that’s a really a great thing. But, just like people, JS is good at somethings and not good at other things. I’m a firm believer that anyone can do anything if they put their mind to it, I’m not saying that everyone can break world records.

There’s a lot to like about writing code in one place using a common set of tools and deploying to every platform. But if the app provides weak and compromised user experience do you want to put your name on it? Look at Facebook. They had an HTML5 app, and the user experience and performance was weak. The way I see it, they essentially shoehorned a web site into an “app”. They obviously bought into the promise of HTML5.

“The biggest mistake we’ve made as a company was betting on HTML5 over native”

M Zuckerberg

It’s fun to think you can recreate all of the nifty transitions and animation of a native app with JS in a browser. But, you’re not really doing your job unless you apply a critical eye and are willing to say that something is falling short of expectation. Kudos to Facebook for owning up to a problem that was theirs.

Is the browser the new OS? Computers are getting faster, and JS can do more in the browser than ever before. But I don’t think this makes JS the be all end all. There will always be something you can do native that will be out of reach from the browser. Either for security, performance or other reasons. The world may spend more time in a browser than all other apps combined but, I don’t want to edit images in Safari, and I don’t think this is where the world is going.