Why HTML5 still presents some problems on mobile

One of the debates of 2013 centres on which approach you should adopt to deliver a great user experience, while keeping costs at an acceptable level. This question often gets parsed as [i]“HTML5 or native applications?”[/i] or [i]“HTML or mobile site builders”[/i] or even something else entirely. But with all the vaunted promise of HTML5, just what does that ‘5’ mean when it comes to real world deployments?

Let’s start by recalling what Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said last September in an interview at [url=http://mashable.com/2012/09/11/html5-biggest-mistake/]TechCrunch Disrupt[/url]: [i]”The biggest mistake we made as a company was betting too much on HTML5 as opposed to native. It just wasn’t ready”[/i]. And that’s the point: HTML5 as a standard is not ready yet and has a long way to go before becoming a real and useful standard.

Undoubtedly there are differences between HTML5 and HTML4 from a technical point of view (take a look at [url=http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec-author-view/]W3C specs[/url] and also at [url=http://youtu.be/sgdZuyx8B6k]this video[/url]). First of all no more frame, frameset and noframes and no more acronym, applet, strike and other elements because everything can be handled through CSS making coding much cleaner. Among the new tags for creating a web page in HTML5 we find the following “new entries”:

,

. Furthermore, HTML5 natively supports multimedia content that in HTML4 required the use of plugins; last but not least, HTML5 has introduced Canvas and MathML respectively to create vector graphics animation via scripting languages and to represent mathematical formulas and symbols inside web pages.

So HTML5 is simpler and cleaner than HTML4. But, it’s still not enough. Not yet.

A common misconception is that HTML5 can achieve the same things as a native mobile app or dedicated mobile site but with [i]”write once, run everywhere”[/i] associated benefits, which many developers/businesses see as a major plus in terms of cost savings. However, those cost savings over native apps or other solutions may quickly be eroded if you’re delivering a poor user experience and you end up losing customers and money.

The biggest problem with HTML5 at this stage is that it is not an uniform standard and it can’t deliver a great user experience from many points of view.

First of all, HTML5 still has fragmentation issues: the implementation of HTML5 varies from browser to browser depending on the layout engine, and can also vary by browser version and across platform. Check [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_layout_engines_%28HTML5%29]this comparison[/url] on Wikipedia for an overview of how (and how much) HTML5 is supported by different layout engines. That means that it’s not so easy, right now, to decide which part of the code must be used to meet the needs of the browser and the platform.

This fragmentation means that using HTML5 today, can be an uncertain proposition as you may have to continuously optimize your web app for multiple devices, browsers and platforms. You may end up not being able to optimize for any specific browser due to time and resource constraints. Just think about how many APIs for iOS Apple asks developers to implement, and you realize that a HTML5 app can be even more expensive than other solutions because of the optimization and maintenance costs involved.

There are also concerns around performance and in particular rendering and loading. People have zero tolerance for delays and in particular native apps have set the standards for what users expect in term of speed and UX. HTML5 is still not mature enough to provide the same level of sophistication. If it has to determine the browser via media queries, it may be slow depending on quality of code and device type. Of course this problem doesn’t arise if you implement device detection software to redirect or adapt content according to the device.

For sure HTML5 helps reduce the gap between mobile websites, native apps and other mobile specific experiences, but in terms of user experience there is still a significant gap between native apps and HTML5 web based applications.

Another solution is the hybrid approach which embeds some HTML5 features inside a native shell. This approach solves some problems in terms of the user interface. As [url=http://www.zdnet.com/heres-why-html-based-apps-dont-work-7000012942/]ZdNet[/url] points out though, most of the hybrid toolsets are not particularly good and can be difficult to work with so the problem remains the same: higher development costs and therefore perhaps much more effort than building a native app or using a different approach.

And what about mobile site builders? For a small business and companies without large financial and technical resources, these can be great solutions because they reduce the gap between native apps and HTML5 web based applications and, at the same time, give business the opportunity to mobilize themselves without investing large amounts of time and resources. Mobile users get to experience easy navigation and improved user experience on a dedicated mobile website that encourages interaction and fulfils the immediate needs of the mobile user. Of course, not all mobile web site builders are created equally and you don’t want to end up with a [i]65MB ‘mobile site’[/i]. We have written recently on the [url=http://mobiforge.com/designing/blog/performance-money-part-1-end-users-wallet]importance of lightweight code and speed[/url].

So what’s the conclusion? Avoid HTML5, embrace it fully or look for another option? Only one thing is certain: the final focus, as always, should be on the man in the street who doesn’t care if the mobile experience is native or web based as long as it is easy to use, fast and fulfils their needs.

If HTML5, in its current state, can’t deliver what your customers want with an acceptable development cost, find a different approach, because ultimately the end user’s experience is what counts most. At the end of the day the main goal should be to satisfy customers.

Posted by Staff
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