1. Is a new CSS framework really necessary? Smooth transitions have existed for a long time, it's unclear to me what is meant by "new css standards" and "take steps to take the experience to the next level". Corollary: can an existing webapp use Red Goose right away or does it need to be recoded?
2. There's this rumor that Apple fights webapps disguised as native apps with fury; yet Cordova & Ionic exist and prosper; what's true and what isn't, and what's your take on this? Is a Red Goose app at risk of being jacked from the appstore down the road for the sole reason that it's a web view?
Great questions! I'm Marvin, one of the founders of Red Goose and the maker of the Toucaan CSS framework.
1. We gravitated towards a new css framework following some initial work with existing web apps that were responsively designed. While some well-designed responsive web apps might make it to a level where they genuinely feel like mobile apps, we figured most websites reduce responsiveness to the idea of just shrinking the desktop UI to fit the handheld format. That isn't enough and those are the folks who are going to need the new CSS framework.
And yes, one would have to recode their website or plan a separate stylesheet for app-in-webview using parts of Toucaan.
2. I agree that Apple has fought the web and the web standards for a long time, but they do not reject wrapped web apps that meet their app store guidelines. Besides, it doesn't have to be a pure web-view if that is what it takes to get your app through the door. I'd say much of this depends on case to case basis, and it is in the interest of every business owner to go in with the cheapest web-view option first.
A Red Goose app is a web-view, but it also a starter app in Swift and Kotlin. So you can choose to get into native development should there be a need to. And get the best of both the worlds. I don't know, the likelihood of Apple booting the entire web-view based ecosystem from the app stores is fairly low. Even their Safari is a web-view based app. :-)
Apple launched iOS with first class HTML5 apps downloadable to home screen to run offline, and continues to support those, adding capability and access to native APIs with every release while striving to maintain security.
If Xbox Cloud Gaming can run on iPad/iPhone as a web app outside the app store, so probably can yours.
// What Apple does not like is when you take what is effectively an HTML5 app and pretend it's a native app. And anyway, why do that? For all the whining about Apple's app store not being worth it, almost nobody wants to distribute outside of it even when they can. They value the discovery too much, just don't want to pay for it.
Comments
Sounds interesting. Two questions:
1. Is a new CSS framework really necessary? Smooth transitions have existed for a long time, it's unclear to me what is meant by "new css standards" and "take steps to take the experience to the next level". Corollary: can an existing webapp use Red Goose right away or does it need to be recoded?
2. There's this rumor that Apple fights webapps disguised as native apps with fury; yet Cordova & Ionic exist and prosper; what's true and what isn't, and what's your take on this? Is a Red Goose app at risk of being jacked from the appstore down the road for the sole reason that it's a web view?
Great questions! I'm Marvin, one of the founders of Red Goose and the maker of the Toucaan CSS framework.
1. We gravitated towards a new css framework following some initial work with existing web apps that were responsively designed. While some well-designed responsive web apps might make it to a level where they genuinely feel like mobile apps, we figured most websites reduce responsiveness to the idea of just shrinking the desktop UI to fit the handheld format. That isn't enough and those are the folks who are going to need the new CSS framework.
And yes, one would have to recode their website or plan a separate stylesheet for app-in-webview using parts of Toucaan.
2. I agree that Apple has fought the web and the web standards for a long time, but they do not reject wrapped web apps that meet their app store guidelines. Besides, it doesn't have to be a pure web-view if that is what it takes to get your app through the door. I'd say much of this depends on case to case basis, and it is in the interest of every business owner to go in with the cheapest web-view option first.
A Red Goose app is a web-view, but it also a starter app in Swift and Kotlin. So you can choose to get into native development should there be a need to. And get the best of both the worlds. I don't know, the likelihood of Apple booting the entire web-view based ecosystem from the app stores is fairly low. Even their Safari is a web-view based app. :-)
Apple launched iOS with first class HTML5 apps downloadable to home screen to run offline, and continues to support those, adding capability and access to native APIs with every release while striving to maintain security.
If Xbox Cloud Gaming can run on iPad/iPhone as a web app outside the app store, so probably can yours.
// What Apple does not like is when you take what is effectively an HTML5 app and pretend it's a native app. And anyway, why do that? For all the whining about Apple's app store not being worth it, almost nobody wants to distribute outside of it even when they can. They value the discovery too much, just don't want to pay for it.