Fake it 'til you make it

Fake It ‘til
You Make It
creating mobile apps that
feel like native apps

What I won’t be
talking about.

Who cares about
feature phones?

75% developing for
iOS and Android

Mobile Safari
Local Storage
CSS3 features like transforms, transitions and
animations

Mobile Safari
Local Storage
animations
Geolocation

Mobile Safari
Local Storage
animations
Geolocation
HTML5 forms support for search, number and
email ﬁeld types.

Mobile Safari
Local Storage
animations
Geolocation
email ﬁeld types.
SVG on the iPhone but not on Android or webOS

Mobile Safari
Local Storage
animations
Geolocation
email ﬁeld types.
SVG on the iPhone but not on Android or webOS
Access to some hardware acceleration

Why Web over Native?
don’t need access to device APIs

most apps don’t

most apps don’t
need quick iteration without app store approval
process

Could be a Web App
Calculators (CalcBot)
Twitter
Things.app
Epicurious
Weather Apps
UI Sketcher

Could be a Web App
Words With Friends/Scrabble
Angry Birds
Canabalt
Bejeweled
Ramp Champ

Demo at
http://snook.ca/testing/convertbot/

Detecting within Browser
if(window.navigator.standalone) {
  // run code in “app” mode
} else {
  // run code in mobile safari mode
}

Home Screen Icon
<link rel="apple‐touch‐icon" href="images/
icon.png">
<link rel="apple‐touch‐icon" sizes="72x72" 
href="touch‐icon‐ipad.png">
<link rel="apple‐touch‐icon" sizes="114x114" 
href="touch‐icon‐iphone4.png">

rel="apple‐touch‐icon‐precomposed"

Start-up Image
<link rel="apple‐touch‐startup‐image" href="/
startup.png">

Start-up Image
No apparent support for horizontal image
When loading in landscape, the status bar
creates a gap to one edge of the loading screen.

Going “Full screen”
<meta name="apple‐mobile‐web‐app‐capable" 
content="yes">

Status Bar
<meta name="apple‐mobile‐web‐app‐status‐bar‐
style" content="black">

default
black‐translucent

Viewport
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device‐
width">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=590">
<meta name="viewport" content="initial‐scale= 
1.0">
<meta name="viewport" content="initial‐scale= 
2.3, user‐scalable=no">

Don’t Need a Framework!
DOM APIs in newer browsers quite capable

ConvertBot demo is 9k

uncompressed.

uncompressed.
ungzipped.

uncompressed.
ungzipped.
including CSS.

uncompressed.
ungzipped.
including CSS.
including JavaScript.

HTML Prototypes
HTMLElement.prototype.__defineSetter__("ontap
", function(func){  });

document.getElementById('keypad').ontap = 
function(){
   alert('just the keypad');
};

HTML Prototypes
HTMLElement.prototype.switchClass = 
function(fromClass, toClass){
  if(this.className == fromClass) {
      this.className = toClass;
  } else {
      this.className = fromClass;
  }   
}

document.getElementById('spinner‐
shell').switchClass('collapsed', 'expanded');

querySelector(All)
document.querySelector('.active'); // one el
document.querySelectorAll('.active'); // all

But I WANT jQUERY!
function $(selector){
  return document.querySelector(selector);
}

Looping
[3,2,1].forEach(function(itm, idx){
  console.log(itm, idx); // 3,0 | 2,1 | 1,2
})

Demo at
http://snook.ca/testing/convertbot/demo/

Use CSS for UI
#units div:nth‐child(2) { ‐webkit‐transform:rotate(45deg); }

Use Transitions
‐webkit‐transition‐property: ‐webkit‐transform; 
‐webkit‐transition‐duration: .5s;

el.style.webkitTransform = 'rotate('+pos+'deg)';

Webkit Animations
@‐webkit‐keyframes {
  0% { background‐position‐y: 0; }
  100% { background‐position‐y: ‐100%; }
}

body {
  background‐image:url("canvas‐crumpled.jpeg");
  ‐webkit‐animation: bg 3s linear infinite;
}

Touch vs Click
Using touch events can make the app feel faster
than click events.
You can customize tap hightlight colour

Touch vs Click
‐webkit‐tap‐highlight‐color:rgba(200,0,0,0.4);

Input Features
<input autocorrect="on"> <!‐‐ or “off” ‐‐>
<input placeholder="Example Text">
<input type="email">
<input type="url">
<input type="number">
<input type="search">

Locking Orientation
window.addEventListener('orientationchange', function(){
  if(window.orientation == ‐90) {
    document.getElementById('orient').className = 'orientright';
  }
  if(window.orientation == 90) {
    document.getElementById('orient').className = 'orientleft';
  }
  if(window.orientation == 0) {
    document.getElementById('orient').className = '';
  }
}, true);

Locking Orientation
.orientleft #shell {
 ‐webkit‐transform: rotate(‐90deg); 
 ‐webkit‐transform‐origin:160px 160px; 
}

.orientright #shell { 
 ‐webkit‐transform: rotate(90deg); 
 ‐webkit‐transform‐origin:230px 230px; 
}

Performance
Use CSS instead of JavaScript for Animations
use CSS Transitions
use CSS Animations
use 2D and 3D transforms to force hardware
acceleration

Hardware Acceleration
2D and 3D transforms may be hardware
accelerated
use translateX/Y instead of top/left
use rotateX(0) to push items with heavy CSS to
use hardware acceleration
(it’s like IE’s zoom:1 to force hasLayout)

Wait, what about Android
and webOS?

Testing Environments
Android emulator is slow

webOS runs on Virtual Box


Best to test on device


For multi-touch testing, must do on the device.


For multi-touch testing, must do on the device.
pinch/zoom, rotate possible in iOS simulator

webOS 2.1
No support for touch events
has “2-ﬁnger” gesture support such as pinch/
zoom
rendering issues

Mobile Web Frameworks
jQTouch
jQuery Mobile
Sencha Touch

jQTouch
Targetted for iOS
Makes web app feel like native app with controls
and list views
http://jqtouch.com/

The Two Hour App
Frameworks allow for rapid development

Demo at
http://pushups.snook.ca/

Local Storage
JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('pdata'));
localStorage.setItem('pdata', 
JSON.stringify(items));

jQuery Mobile
Designed for iPhone, Android, webOS
plus bada, Meego, Windows Mobile and more
Includes touch and gesture support
http://jquerymobile.com/

Sencha Touch
Designed for iPhone and Android
Includes enhanced touch events
Allows for rapid development
http://www.sencha.com/products/touch/

Why Native over Web?
Access to native hardware and other applications
Camera, Address Book, Filesystem
Streamlined Revenue Process

Meet in the middle
Many apps take advantage of native WebView to
load application components from remote server
allows for iteration of some app components
without requiring complete approval process
from app store

PhoneGap and Titanium
Titanium Mobile targets iPhone and Android
PhoneGap targets iPhone, Android, Palm,
Symbian and Blackberry.
http://www.appcelerator.com/
http://www.phonegap.com/

“I really like my work and
I try really hard.”

Fake it 'til you make it

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Editor's Notes