For a long time i've tried to understand this paragraph
'building a really hot HTML5 application that takes advantage of the nice new features is not exactly easy. Even assuming that you’re using one of the dozens of clever toolkits, it’s still not a slam-dunk. In fact, compared to the level of support and tooling you get from XCode on the Apple side or the various pieces of Android IDE-ware, HTML5 development is a major pain in the ass.'
What is it that people are finding so difficult to do in HTML(5 or otherwise)?
I've looked through a ton of apps, and with the exception of games and access to API's (which can be done with things like phonegap), what is so challenging to do efficiently in html and javascript?
Performance is generally much slower. This isn't a problem for most apps, but it is for CPU-intensive apps. That includes anything with substantial rendering or computation. The latest HTML5 features like local storage, sockets, and cross-window messaging go a long way to make many more apps feasible, those features aren't available in all browsers.
Even writing native Cocoa apps on the iPhone requires lots of optimization in loading and rendering content. JavaScript is even more intensive, making it more difficult to create fluid interfaces that rival the native experience.
I suspect that if mobile performance was comparable to desktop performance, Javascript would win out for a lot more use cases than it does right now.
It's a major pain in the ass because every browser (hello Internet Explorer) implements a different set of features, and the features all browsers have in common, the browsers implement differently. And this is not only cross-browser. I've seen Firefox behave different under Windows and Linux, for example.
Then, there is a big performance difference between all the browsers, which means you have to strip the application down and optimize to the slowest browser.
Compared to the development of a native mobile application this is quite a big difference.
'building a really hot HTML5 application that takes advantage of the nice new features is not exactly easy. Even assuming that you’re using one of the dozens of clever toolkits, it’s still not a slam-dunk. In fact, compared to the level of support and tooling you get from XCode on the Apple side or the various pieces of Android IDE-ware, HTML5 development is a major pain in the ass.'
What is it that people are finding so difficult to do in HTML(5 or otherwise)?
I've looked through a ton of apps, and with the exception of games and access to API's (which can be done with things like phonegap), what is so challenging to do efficiently in html and javascript?