Apps are small programs that you instal on your mobile phone through your devices software provider, with apple its through their app store. The number of apps has exploded in recent years with apple currently offering over 500,000 through its app store, the vast number available shows how popular apps are. The problem with native apps that are available through the app store is that the app will only work on apple devices, you will need to create a new app for blackberry and another for android and yet another for windows 7 and yet again for each possible type of mobile device out there, with a web app however it is possible to create a single app that will work across all of these mobile platforms.
Web apps are created using the same skills as required when creating normal websites, that means that if you know how to use HTML, CSS and JQuery you already know how to create web apps and you wont need to spend time learning how to code for each specific device.
The example below is an example app that i have created using Jquery Mobile a java script library that helps to speed up development and provide web developers with common elements. To view the web app on your device visit this link on your mobile device: http://rscnet.co.uk/app1/
There are a few things to keep in mind the first is that as the app is essentially a website it will not have access to the mobile devices features such as GPS and camera, you can still install the apps onto the devices home screen by adding it via the browsers menu. The other drawback with web apps is they will require an internet connection to work however they do not take up memory on the device itself like native apps – this does have an advantage because if you update the web app all users will automatically view the latest information without needing to update the app.
If you are interested in mobile apps or want more information on how your website could be adapted to work better on mobile devices please feel free to contact me
Blog post by Alex Wells
Working as a Website developer I love nothing more then working waist deep in code, I have specific interests in PHP and WordPress development but mostly working with local businesses to provide them with a website that meets their needs. Contact me if you have a project in mind and would like to get an input from an experienced website developer.
