tzlee.com/blog

Tag: HTML5

  • Why is everybody building an iPhone app?

    I’ve had many many self proclaimed wannabe entrepreneurs approaching me with “compelling” iPhone app ideas, and oh, it’s top secret – before they breathe a single word about it I’ll have to sign a 3,112 page NDA so in an event that somebody else has the same idea I can be brought to court and made to compensate billions.

    What is it with iPhone apps, really? Even SMRT released an app and had a press release for it. For what? Can’t they just post disruptions on Twitter and Facebook – which I think they already do? Why build an app? They think my grandmother has an iPhone? An app is not the solution. A proper announcement system and staff training is.

    The phone and mobile apps are just technologies and delivery mediums. Building a product around a technology is a wrong start. Technology should be built around a product instead. A lot of “app” pitches I’ve heard have no real value. Technology alone does not sell a single cent. It must solve a real world problem. Would you buy an app because it could, for example, switch on your microwave at home? Has remotely switching on a microwave been a need for housewives?

    If you’re reading this and thinking of building an app, please look at the product as a whole. If it’s just another one of those apps, I think you may be better off spending your time and money (app developers charge a really crazy sum BTW, just because it’s HOT) building a real product with a HTML5 site that will truly scale when the need arises… at a fraction of the price. If you are a business owner, don’t derail your core business by focusing on apps and whatever technology trend that comes along.

    Sometimes no technology is the best technology.

  • Offline HTML Mobile Apps

    Picking up iOS is quite a bit of work plus you need to buy a Mac to get Xcode running.

    Yes I know you Hackintosh folks are going to start making some noise but let’s keep this legal.

    So I’ve decided to build quick apps using jQTouch.

    To get an App icon on your home screen, simply… add the page to your home screen! Duh. It’s like adding a bookmark. Try it – it works!

    But here’s the next problem – how do we get the apps to work without network connectivity?

    HTML5 introduced something called the offline cache manifest. Here’s how to use it…

    Step 1 – Create a file called yourfilename.manifest with the following content

    CACHE MAINFEST
    demos/main/ajax.html
    demos/main/ajax_post.php
    demos/main/index.html
    demos/main/jqt_startup.png
    demos/main/jqtouch.png
    jqtouch/jqtouch.min.css
    jqtouch/jqtouch.min.js
    jqtouch/jquery.1.3.2.min.js
    themes/jqt/img/back_button.png
    themes/jqt/img/back_button_clicked.png
    themes/jqt/img/button.png
    themes/jqt/img/button_clicked.png
    themes/jqt/img/chevron.png
    themes/jqt/img/chevron_circle.png
    themes/jqt/img/grayButton.png
    themes/jqt/img/loading.gif
    themes/jqt/img/on_off.png
    themes/jqt/img/rowhead.png
    themes/jqt/img/toggle.png
    themes/jqt/img/toggleOn.png
    themes/jqt/img/toolbar.png
    themes/jqt/img/whiteButton.png
    themes/jqt/theme.min.css
    some/other/file.name

    Step 2 – Make sure your web server reports the MIME type correctly by adding the following config to Apache. You might need to contact your hosting provider to get this done.

    AddType text/cache-manifest .manifest

    Step 3 – Add the following tag to your HTML page so the browser knows where to find the manifest.

    <html manifest="yourfilename.manifest">

    That’s it!

    Original reference material here.