Building a real time html5 app for mobile devices

Building a Real-Time HTML5 App for Mobile Devices Tony Abou-Assaleh Co-founder & CTO, TitanFile taa@titanfile.com Twitter: @tony_aa Mobile P2P – November 14, 2012

About me …• PhD in … natural language processing – Not mobile• Ex-Googler .. in ads – Not mobile• Hardcore backend programmer• Past year - TitanFile: RT SPA – HTML5/JS/CSS/Async/Django/…

Agenda• Why HTML5?• Challenges• Design Tips• “Real-time” Tips• Mobile HTML5 Myths

Why HTML5?

Why HTML5?• Cross-platform• W3C standard• Open source• Lots of libraries• Transferable skills• Cordova = native• It’s easy! Just HTML + JS + CSS + Backend

Or so we thought …

Why not HTML5?• Not cross-platform• Standard-in-progress• Open Source – yeah right!• Lots of libraries that don’t work• Cordova Native• It’s NOT just HTML + JS + CSS + Backend

So why HTML5?

So why HTML5?• Gets you to give a talk at mobile P2P• Still easier than native• Transferable skills

Challenges

Website Web App• Single Page App• Background Data Sync• Asynchronous Processing• Responsiveness• Design

Web App Mobile App• Usage Patterns• Touch Events• Drag-and-drop• Scrolling• Pixel Ratio

Web iPad Android PlayBook BB10

Design Tips

Design Tips• Start with design, not prototype• Images, not button• Avoid text links• No modal dialogues• Use CSS media queries• Provide hi-res images as needed

“Real-Time” Tips

“Real-Time” Tips - Tools• Use Font-end Framework – Backbone/Marionette/Relational• Use Back-end Framework – Django/Tornado/Celery• Use WebSocket Wrapper – Socket.io or SockJS• Use a CSS Framework – Bootstrap• Write your own!

“Real-Time” Tips - Data• Server push-events• Asynchronous Processing• Incremental Loading

“Real-Time” Tips – Front-end• Only render visible DOM• No anchor tags• No HTML5 drag-and-drop• Use native scrolling

Mobile HTML5 Myths

Myth 1: HTML5 is Cross-Platform

Myth 2: HTML5 is Slow• Not if … – Load data incrementally – Only render what’s visible – User global event listeners – User WebKit CSS transforms• Hardware Acceleration

Myth 3: Not as effective as Native

Summary• Developing HTML5 mobile apps is … – Easier than native – Cheaper than native – Tricky – Fun!

Building a real time html5 app for mobile devices

by Tony Abou-Assaleh on Nov 14, 2012

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