Are Web Apps An Insult To Users?

In a free market, the needs/wants of the consumer eventually overrides the desires of the producers. Sometimes it takes a long time, but it always happens eventually. Walmart is an excellent case study in why it's great to be a consumer in today's economy but sucks to be a worker.<p>When the consensus is "yeah, thick apps are better for users but web apps are cheaper to build and deliver," we can safely say thick apps will eventually win out.

For some reason this article rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it's because I feel like the author is using a link bait title to "teach me" something that already seems pretty obvious. The whole question answer setup is annoying.<p>The title suggests that this article is about user experience when it really feels more like a rehash of pick 2: fast/cheap/quality.<p>1) Reasonable Time To Market (fast)<p>2) Flawless user experience (quality)<p>3) Big Reach (Cheap: big payoff for time/money invested)

What happens when desktop App Stores (e.g. Mac App Store) start taking hold as the primary delivery platform for the desktop? Will they erode some of the benefits of web apps on the desktop?<p>When development and deployment are easier, the end user will benefit from more frequent updates, fixes and new features.

I agree that native apps are the way to go in a perfect world. And yes, we are developing for the users. However, you are over simplifying the issue. Depending on the type of development you are doing you may also be doing it for the money. So when you are determining HOW to deploy your product you must take into consideration the costs of developing specialized native apps vs browser-wrapped apps. You should also consider the impact it'll have on your user base. Are they going to still use your product if it's non-native? Sometimes the juice just isn't worth the squeeze.<p>*edit: grammar

I have to agree with the article. Native apps "feel" better. I think some users feel uncomfortable with going to a web browser on their phone to use an app. Feels fragile and brittle. Like they might accidently close a tab or hit refresh and lose all their data or something. How do I get to it? Where is it in my bookmarks? How many people know about and use Home Screen Web Apps?<p>I think solutions like PhoneGap is the best of both worlds. Users get their "native" app. Developers get to keep their web app.

If it's easier for a developer to make interesting things, that can translate into a better user experience as it means more interesting things will get done. That (mobile) webapps sacrifice a bit of usabilty for ease of development and portability doesn't mean that users don't derive real value from their existence.

Developing with a cross-platform kit like PhoneGap solves most of the issues here. You'll develop for multiple platforms simultaneously, and can tie into the native capabilities of the platform when necessary.

I agree with the sentiment of this but sometimes it seems like webapps are faster than native apps. Also, I wonder if Facebook's Project Spartan will change this paradigm

Does anyone have the text of the page? It is not loading for me here.