Listen -- I know there's a lot of negativity on HN and I try not to add to it. But seeing mobile web succeed is something I'm pretty passionate about.
I played with the left nav example and it doesn't use inertia. This is one of the most ubiquitous interactions on mobile apps so it's probably one of the most important to get right. And while it's good by mobile web standards, the lack of inertia makes it feel completely and obviously wrong if you're comparing to native apps.
The lack of inertia is indicative of either not setting the bar high enough or not having the technical chops to implement it.
The reason this is a big deal is because mobile web's reputation is to cut corners like this and get 80% of the way there and then give up. That's why native is kicking mobile web's ass.
The worst part about this is the web can do a lot of this (for example, see the leftnav I built here http://petehunt.github.io/react-touch/), it's just that very few teams are doing it right (Sencha is one team doing it right). So the reason this post upsets me is because they call themselves a premier way to build native-like apps with web technologies and then just further the stereotype that web technologies can't compete. It really bugs me.
Your argument about the left nav seems wrong to me. I use the HipChat app on Android and iOS and it feels just like ours does. I've never used a left menu that had the effect your demo has. In fact, I know we are using inertia because you can "throw" the menu over to the side, and I coded it based on a velocity threshold of the drag (we just aren't bouncing at the end, which is really not a universal style). Perhaps you are noticing a browser/platform specific issue we can fix?
I think your comment is a bit harsh, especially considering we've been working on this for all of two months and it's still in alpha. We have a long ways to go and we know it can and should be better. If you believe in the vision of making this the best way to build hybrid apps, then help us! https://github.com/driftyco/ionic
By the way, I did find your demo quite impressive. Nice work.
I've just used a bunch of iOS apps that have that effect and I've found that inertia is present in way more interactions than are immediately apparent. Zynga Scroller is a pretty good (pure math!) implementation of it.
Sorry that I was so harsh. I think the marketing copy turned me off a little bit. If this were presented a little less like "here is _the_ solution!" (when so many others have come before it) I would have been less of a jerk :/
I think what frustrated me is that you guys seem to have the right attitude and design to pull it off and I felt like the interactions weren't quite there. So please don't settle for anything less than perfect, no matter what it takes :)
I do want to point out that your design is great and the interactions are a lot better than most of the web stuff that's out there. And it looks like you've spent a lot of time working on developer experience which is great too; impressive for only working on it for two months :)
Sure, we could probably tone the copy down a bit :) If you don't mind, I'm going to see about getting some of the stuff in your demo into Ionic, that'd be cool.
If there is one area that I've never been able to understand about Web Developers is the endless pursuit of making web "win" over native, you allude to it with your comment "That's why native is kicking mobile web's ass". Who cares? use the correct tool for the job, you don't see websites modern being written in Objective C and I can't remember meeting a mobile developer who was preoccupied with beating "web" tech.
/me - Runs and ducks as all the WebDevs throw fireballs my way.
Well I think that incremental delivery of applications, crawlability, URL bookmarkability and being able to push live updates are valuable features the Web has already solved. In general iteration speed in dev is better too (usually lower compilation times)
Don't forget the cost of managing multiple platforms and not having to have multiple dev teams. On the teams I've worked with that has been the reason for going with html5 apps.
How many businesses want to build the same product 3 times (at least) for different customers and will they be able to get it all implemented at the same time, or try to manage the differences when they are all communicating with the same backend service?
It's just a non-starter for most start-ups or non-technology focused businesses.
I played with the left nav example and it doesn't use inertia. This is one of the most ubiquitous interactions on mobile apps so it's probably one of the most important to get right. And while it's good by mobile web standards, the lack of inertia makes it feel completely and obviously wrong if you're comparing to native apps.
The lack of inertia is indicative of either not setting the bar high enough or not having the technical chops to implement it.
The reason this is a big deal is because mobile web's reputation is to cut corners like this and get 80% of the way there and then give up. That's why native is kicking mobile web's ass.
The worst part about this is the web can do a lot of this (for example, see the leftnav I built here http://petehunt.github.io/react-touch/), it's just that very few teams are doing it right (Sencha is one team doing it right). So the reason this post upsets me is because they call themselves a premier way to build native-like apps with web technologies and then just further the stereotype that web technologies can't compete. It really bugs me.