- April 12, 2013
- Posted by: Vishal Shah
- Category: Mobile Application Development
As mobile technologies pervade the consumer market at a rapid pace, it has become almost inevitable for businesses to chart out a mobile strategy to reach out to the increasingly mobile-savvy population. Considering the present market and the demand for mobile apps development, almost every business needs to target a large number of devices. The era of applications solely designed to operate within the iPhone platform is gone; the current scenario demands large, medium and even small businesses to come up with apps that support Andropid, iPad, Blackberry, Windows Phone and so on.
It is indeed a challenge for a developer to design applications that cater to all the popular platforms and to solve this issue, cross platform mobile frameworks like PhoneGap are being increasingly used. Let us discuss some of the major benefits and drawbacks of cross-platform apps development.
Major Benefits
Reusable Codes: By leveraging a cross-platform framework, an app designer needs to write the code only once and then use it again for different projects or platforms. There is no need to develop the particular action or sequence for every platform.
Accessibility of Plug-ins: The most popular frameworks like PhoneGap and Appcelerator make modules and plug-ins easily accessible. These can be conveniently plugged into other tools or services.
Convenient for Web Development: Most of the available frameworks are scripting languages, hence it is convenient for web developers to use them. Again, almost all frameworks support CSS3 and HTML5 along with other native functions.
Cost Reduction: This is one of the most remarkable advantages of a cross-platform framework for mobile apps development. Leveraging this methodology enables businesses to develop an app for a platform without hiring a team of developers who are capable of delivering an app across the specific system.
Integration with Cloud: Most of the frameworks are equipped with options for straightaway integration with cloud services, including AWS, Saleforce.com amongst others.
Hassle-free Deployment: Compilation and deployment of apps can be done at a rapid pace within a cross-platform framework.
Main Drawbacks
There are certain drawbacks of developing cross-platform apps. Let us discuss the same:
– A cross-platform structure may not provide support for all the features of a device or an operating system. In case some new feature is added by Microsoft, Apple or Google, the framework requires updating.
– Most of the frameworks require users to utilize their specific tool, which implies that the developer has to let go of the preferred IDE. PhoneGap is an exception in this regard as it can provide support for every platform leveraging the native IDE.
Compilation on a cross-platform ambience may sometimes be a slow process. Moreover, the scope of incorporating 3D support or complicated graphics may be limited.
When it comes to the end results, the benefits of designing cross-platform apps indeed score over the drawbacks. Once the user-interface is designed in a proper manner, the application suits all the platforms on which it operates. Going by this procedure, designing of this app may indeed prove favorable for businesses, without tremendously increasing the costs.
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Mobile website design and mobile apps development is taking over the business world like a storm. Explore the different aspects of this mobile trend with Hema Gupta, a professional in a web design and development company, who has authored many blogs on different aspect and trends in web design and internet marketing.