How jQuery Mobile and HTML 5 Can Impact Your Mobile App Development

Whether you are interested in developing a mobile website or application, implementing an appropriate framework can help you accomplish your project in a more efficient manner. There are numerous frameworks available out there that helps one improve their productivity with the resourceful features of the development tools.

The jQuery Mobile is one such mobile framework with which you can develop your simple, cross-platform web application with utmost precision and convenience. This framework is basically a HTML 5 based UI system that allows developers to beautifully integrate both JavaScript and HTML 5 for creating a flexible mobile web app that stand up to the UI expectations of numerous devices like Smartphones, tablet, iPad, desktop, etc.

The incredible community contribution has added numerous utile plugins and other useful features that makes jQuery Mobile a viable framework. However, there are certain merits and demerits of implementing this UI system for mobile web app development. Let's have a glimpse over some of them.

Valuable Merits of jQuery Mobile and HTML 5:

• Supports Cross-Platform And Cross-Device App Development – Today, when there are truckloads of mobile devices featuring distinct shapes and sizes, and numerous mobile platforms are available out there, the task of developing an app to target a whopping number of mobile users has become a bit cumbersome. Thus, following an approach that facilitates developers to effortlessly and efficiently develop cross-device and cross-platform app not only minimizes the overall complexity but also offers a prolific solution.
• No App Approvals are Needed Even for iOS Devices – Seeking Apple App store approval for launching an app publicly is one of the factors that makes the platform rank low under the preference chart. However, if you have developed a web app for your website using jQuery Mobile framework, you won't need to wait for approval from the app store even if your app is targeting an iOS device. This helps you save your valuable time and efforts.

  Moreover, the jQuery Mobile app users are not required to update their app manually, rather they will get an updated version, as soon as they reload your website.

• Faster Turnaround Time – You can accomplish your application development task by implementing this framework at a faster rate as compared to that while implementing any platform natively. That is so even if you don't possess any prior knowledge about HTML 5 or jQuery Mobile, as the learning curve for this framework is comparatively low.
• Customizable Themes – The visual appearance of your application is quite imperative as it helps attract users. With this framework, you can easily customize a desirable look and feel to your app. And, modify it as and when desired.
• Platform-agnostic UI widgets – Since currently, the mobile market trends are greatly focusing over touchscreen devices, the touch-optimized widgets for UI elements makes the jQuery a viable choice for developers.

Demerits of jQuery Mobile and HTML 5:

• Can't Access All Device's Features – Since, it runs JavaScript in the browser, it doesn't facilitate access to all native features of mobile devices. However, if you consider this aspect, native apps stand ahead of the jQuery Mobile web apps.
• Not Apt For Multimedia And Gaming Apps – The framework is preferred only for simple, data entry types applications. Native app development approach is considered much better than this approach, if one is interested in creating feature-rich, complex application like Gaming or multimedia apps.

• No MVC Architecture Support – Model View Controller (MVC) offers different views of the software. It helps separate presentation from the logic and facilitates greater efficiency. Unlike other mobile app development tools like PhoneGap, this framework doesn't support MVC architecture.

It is essential to review the benefits and drawbacks of using a framework beforehand. Because, this helps one easily streamline their choice for preferred framework. Review the aforementioned merits and demerits of the jQuery Mobile web app framework before beginning app development. If your need a simple and efficient application for performing task like data entry, you must deploy this tools and integrate HTML 5 and JavaScript is an absolute manner. Your app will surely deliver remarkable performance.

About the author: Addison Cohen is an application developer for Appsted Ltd, an iPhone app development services provider. He loves sharing latest information on mobile technology.