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Comment by Huppie | Hacker News Reader

Ok, wait a minute. I always thought people preferred HTML5 over <insert platform specific API here> is that well, it's platform independent.

So I opened this app on my android phone... and nothing happened. Basically it said 'this (web) app is available for iOS only'.

Then what is the use of 'open web standards'? Am I missing something? Is this using a feature that android phones don't support yet?

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It was built as a tech demo and will work on iOS, Android and WebOS… but we built it primarily for iOS as a bit of an experiment to try to make something that "felt native".

¬ Of course you can fork it and mess around with it to make the experience better for android now too.

It should work on android? Did you test that? If I visit the webpage there is nothing there except the message that this is a tech demo and that I should visit it on an iOS device. Pressing the Menu button doesn't reveal any kind of 'add to home' functionality. (I'm on Android 2.3.4)

The same counts for visiting the website with any other browser I have.

I can view a demo, and it looks like a nice app. But I hope you understand that 'apps' like this go against the entire idea that websites are available to anyone, on any device, which is the one thing that makes web-apps so awesome.

Yeah… it should work on android (we did some loose testing, but not on an actual device), as you'll note some other people on android have had no issues. If you'd like to take the time to give some details about your device then I'd be happy to try give it a run in the simulator with those parameters. https://github.com/benschwarz/currency.io/issues

> try to make something that "felt native".

I beg you to reconsider. I think this is the current problem with mobile web apps today; too many are trying to feel native. Instead try to make it feel smooth and responsive, as a web app.

Generally, don't be ashamed of being a web app. Embrace the web's strengths; users will appreciate it.

> _I think this is the current problem with mobile web apps today; too many are trying to feel native. Instead try to make it feel smooth and responsive, as a web app._

I think this is exactly what OP has done. It doesn't feel "native" to iOS to me, but it does feel like a well-made little web app. I don't have an Android device to test it on, but it does seem like it would fit in just fine on one.

Why the iOS jail? I can think of plenty of cases where it'd be useful to have this, even on a desktop...

I know it may be 'designed' for iOS and mobile screen formats, but it seems to me a seriously bad decision not to have a 'show it to me anyway' button, along with a disclaimer that it (might) be broken on $platform...

And saying 'fork it' for an issue this trivial is not a great way to promote yourselves.

Technically it should work on Android (I believe we were testing against v2.2). What version are you running?

I think the main blocker with opening it up for desktop is having to design a more appropriate layout. Not impossible, just time-consuming. And as Ben says, it is intended as a tech demo.

It works for me on Android 2.2 on my HTC Desire (nicely, too!), but doesn't even pretend to work on any browser on my laptop.

Well… its built as a demo, and we learnt a lot from it.

I'm sure we could add a button to show it on devices that wouldn't experience what it was 'designed' for… but really, we open sourced it to share some of the things we learnt along the way—not pour time into testing over various fragmented devices.

I understand your sentiment (I'm not the one voting you down) and I hope you do understand where we are coming from. The whole idea of 'using HTML5 for an app' is based on the notion that 'that way all HTML5 supporting devices should be able to use it'. Which is the one thing you missed.

I think the idea of the app is awesome, and it's good that we can read the source. It's just a bummer that I can't use it in its current state.

Yeah I understand your angle here… for us it was about building a comprehensive application, and given the time (and budget) of a real world project–we'd have made sure it was squeaky clean on Android too.

"not pour time into testing over various fragmented devices."

If this is what people would have to do, why would anyone do that over native?

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