Reach Android/iOS with JavaScript, HTML and CSS — Visual Studio Magazine

Question-and-answer session

Hybrid Web Frameworks Q&A with Allen Conway: Reaching Android/iOS with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS

Offerings like Ionic, Cordova replace simple web development, progressive web applications (PWA), native development, and other cross-platform development frameworks like Xamarin (now .NET MAUI), Flutter, and React Native. Learn how to serve.

Hybrid web frameworks offer a common approach to cross-platform application development in that they allow coders to target mobile iOS and Android platforms with a single codebase consisting of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.

As such, products such as Ionic, Cordova have replaced simple web development, progressive web applications (PWA), native development, and other cross-platform development frameworks such as Xamarin (now .NET MAUI), Flutter, and React Native. provide stuff upon.

And, as with any such alternative development approach, the choice involves a series of trade-offs, with each option having its own strengths and weaknesses. As proved in 2017 Trends in application development The benefits of a hybrid approach have been recognized for years, as in the article “Hybrid Apps Beat Native in New Study”, but they continue to gain traction with new products and features.

One reason is that by using a single codebase consisting of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, developers can target both mobile OSes while reducing development time and using familiar web technologies. reach beyond browser-based web-only applications using

We have hybrid development expert Allen Conway give us a sneak peek into hybrid development ahead of his November 15th presentation “Fast Focus: Hybrid Web Frameworks” at the big Live! 360 tech conference in Orlando on November 15th. I asked him for his thoughts on the approach. 13-18.

In this session, Conway discusses some of the mainstream frameworks like Ionic and sees how they can be leveraged to build hybrid web applications, as well as “hybrid web frameworks” and “native mobile frameworks”. I will also briefly explain the differences and advantages and disadvantages of . Disadvantages of each.

Here’s what Conway, Web Client Practice Lead at Cognizant Softvision, said in a short Q&A.

Visual Studio Magazine: Targeting both Android and iOS using a single JavaScript/HTML/CSS codebase has helped teams reduce development time and reach beyond browser-based, web-only applications. can it help?
Conway: Hybrid web frameworks inherently enable write-once, deploy-anywhere scenarios targeting native platforms and devices leveraging the web stack. This enables teams with existing web skills to reuse core knowledge to build mobile-first applications, targeting Android, iOS, and the web without managing multiple separate languages ​​and codebases. You can reduce the time to

What tradeoffs are involved?
The main trade-off between hybrid web development and true native development is using abstractions like Capacitor and Cordova. These abstractions provide the ability to “black box” native programming, but at the cost of not having the ultimate per-platform access and functionality.

Can you briefly explain the difference between a “hybrid web framework” and a “native mobile framework” and the pros and cons of each?
Hybrid web frameworks handle device access through abstractions such as Capacitor and Cordova, and work using WebView, but can work using only web technologies.

Native mobile frameworks target native controls and APIs via JavaScript to build truly native apps, but require more platform-specific coding and knowledge than using web technologies alone.

How good are mainstream frameworks like Ionic for building hybrid web applications?
Ionic and Capacitor are longstanding, proven frameworks adopted by the engineering community to solve enterprise needs in the web and mobile application development space that can handle a wide variety of software implementation scenarios.

What advantages does VS Code have over Visual Studio for building hybrid web apps?
The extensions provided in VS Code for Ionic and Capacitor development streamline running, building, debugging, configuring, and creating applications. With an integrated set of features, the Ionic extension enables productive development of hybrid web applications.

What are the main takeaways participants will learn from the 20 minute “fast focus” presentation?
The main takeaways from Fast Focus are to identify what hybrid web frameworks are, what developer backgrounds are best suited to leverage these frameworks, and briefly explain how they work. to find out.