This is a great article. My knee jerk reaction was to be a bit defensive "but native development is a lot of work too!" And it is, great applications require a lot of work regardless of platform.

But the article isn't (explicitly at least) saying that web-based mobile applications necessarily require any more work than porting an application between multiple platforms, but it is saying that web-based mobile application development isn't just "crank out an app and it runs great everywhere" which is something a lot of proponents (among whom I count myself) certainly do argue.

As the article concludes, there are a great many number of considerations when selecting a platform, and the detail here highlights the many that exist for mobile development.

I really very deeply enjoyed this article.

thanks a lot! that was exactly what I was hoping to demystify: Yes! HTML5 can do the job, just don't underestimate the amount of work it will take you.

Thank you for an outstandingly helpful piece delivered with clearly hard-won clarity of thought, expression and purpose.

The diagrams you created to support the piece are gold.

While the project work done for my business sponsors is confined specifically to iOS, hence the browser version/capability, carrier, UI, and UX problem domains are thereby narrowed, your first principles, conclusions, observations, diagrams, and commentary with prescriptive guidance is superb -

I, and I'm sure many other readers feel the same, owe you a debt of gratitude for what is likely a watershed post and effort at explication, caution, and actionable guidance.

Sublime setup with Joe the Volcano reference!

Looking forward eagerly, and with a good dose of appropriate humility, to your next posts on the subject.

Best, Adam Cassel

Great article. I was wondering what you use for your test frameworks?

Not sure if I understand. What do I use to test? Or what frameworks do I recommend?

Apologies, I should have been more clear.

I guess you could split testing into 2 parts: The logic testing of the JavaScript (unit tests/TDD/BDD) and cross-platform testing.

There are a few different tools out there to do the first part (QUnit, jasmine, etc). Which tools and workflow have you used? Which do you recommend?

How do you go about testing on multiple platforms? I guess a lot of it comes down to manual subjective performance testing?

My testing knowledge currently leaves a lot to be desired, any advice would be welcomed! Thanks.

Hey Brian, what flowchart software have you used for the flow diagram.

thanks Tom

OmniGraffle: http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omnigraffle/

Thanks Fling, you da man. its very impressive how you do such detail analysis of your work.

Got the omnigraffle, still could not find the stencil you are using ? any custom stencil you are using ?