Category: App Developer

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What are the advantages of cross-platform mobile app development?

What are the advantages of cross-platform mobile app development?

Introduction

If you think that your business requires a mobile app, then the immediate and foremost question that pops up in your mind is, “Do I go for a native mobile app or a cross-platform mobile app?” Despite your choice of platform hinging predominantly on the platform your target audience enjoys spending time on, going for cross-platform mobile app development makes the prospect of your app turning successful and well-known in less time than a native mobile app. Dissimilar to native mobile apps, which operates solely on a single operating system, cross-platform apps are very versatile, have a single code base and operate on several operating systems.

Two chief types of cross-platform mobile apps happen to be:

‘Native’ Platform Mobile Apps

Through the assistance of a third-party vendor, these apps are developed with the API given by the native operating system SDK (Software Development Kit), in other programming languages without the backing of the operating system vendor. The final app utilizes native APIs and has a sole cross-platform codebase, which results in a higher native feel compared to a hybrid app.

Hybrid ‘HTML5’ Cross-Platform Mobile Apps:

These are primarily written as a web application with contemporary web technologies such as HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. The final app is attached within a thin native container, which permits it to operate on any device notwithstanding several browser-centric limitations. But, these apps most of the time are unable to get a native look and feel akin to native cross-platform apps. Apart from being quite adaptable and simple to build, cross-platform mobile apps benefit both clients and developers with a lot of worthwhile and tangible benefits.

Benefits of Cross-Platform Mobile App Development

One App Instead of Many:

In case you opt for the option of cross-platform, your developers will not be required to write new code for each platform. Rather, they can opt for the same code on various platforms. Utilizing a single code base on all platforms not only reduces routine activities but also turn the job of maintenance and deployment very convenient for developers. This is a big advantage with a cross-platform mobile app development.

Remain Uniform Throughout:

A pleasurable and seamless user experience (UX) is the recipe for success as far as an app is concerned. A beautifully thrashed out UX of an app needs to perform uniformly on all devices. Keeping similar user interface design on all platforms, cross-platform development provides users with the same incredible app experience irrespective of the device they’re using the app.

Integrate with the Cloud Seamlessly

The other distinct advantage with cross-platform apps is that they can be integrated swiftly and comfortably with cloud environments and enterprise-level plug-ins. To put it simply, cross-platform apps gel with anything and everything and can leverage several plug-ins and extensions for improved app experience, expandability and functionality.

Swift Release:

Cross-platform development offers developers the facility to reutilize the code within the app many times and hugely reduces the time required to introduce the app to the public. Further, instead of building various apps, simply one app would suffice. This can spare developers a lot of precious time, permitting them to offer the project in a short duration.

Zilch Technical Hurdles:

Cross-platform development can be very beneficial for developers as they don’t have to learn new, platform-centric languages such as Objective-C, Swift or Java. Any developer with familiarity in HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript can easily begin with cross-platform app development. Also, these languages can be learned quickly than a totally new platform specific language.

More reach with less promotional efforts:

Standard rule stipulates that the large number of platforms you develop an app for, larger the audience you can reach out to. Developing the app for various platforms such as iOS, Android, Windows, and BlackBerry also minimizes your promotional initiatives as the majority of people will become familiar with your app. The other significant benefit is that you don’t have to make niche messages to attract a certain segment of audience.

Minimizes Development and Maintenance Expenses:

Clients requiring a cross-platform mobile application for their business will only need a small team of professionals well versed in a particular kind of technologies, which brings down the whole development expenditure regarding the project. As there is only a single app to deal and update, maintenance expenditures come down in comparison to managing and updating various apps for several platforms.

5 highly Desired Cross-Platform Mobile App Development Tools

In the past building a cross-platform mobile app used to be a very tall order fraught with a lot of difficulties and risks. But, with the enormous growth of cross-platform mobile app development tools, the scenario has transformed rapidly. Developers these days are leveraging these tools to churn out app with less hiccups. In this endeavor let us explore some well-known cross-platform mobile app development tools and platforms that can bring down your development time and efforts.

1.  Xamarin

The hugely popular and commonly used tool to develop native cross-platform mobile apps with the potency of C# programming language and.NET framework. It is owned by Microsoft!

2.  React Native

React Native happens to be an open source app development framework from Facebook to create cross-platform native mobile apps with the help of JavaScript and React.js. An ideal foil for Agile Development!

Also Read : React Native Or Xamarin ? Which One Is Best ?

3.  NativeScript

Another effective open source framework to make cross-platform mobile apps having a native look and feel with JavaScript, TypeScript or Angular. It even assists the Vue.js framework!

4.  Appcelerator Titanium

This is a leading open-source framework that permits developers to make native mobile apps for several platforms with a single JavaScript code base. A very good option for developers with knowledge in JS.

5.  PhoneGap

Earlier known as Apache Cordova, PhoneGap is a famous framework to create cross-platform hybrid mobile apps with the efficiencies of HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript.

Lastly

Going by the afore-mentioned points it can be safely concluded that cross-platform app development is ideal compared to other methods. The chief reason being less expensive and time-consuming. If you are planning a mobile app for your business then consider the cross-platform development process.

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5 reasons why in-house mobile app development is ideal

5 reasons why in-house mobile app development is ideal

It won’t be an exaggeration to say that mobile apps have, literally, taken over our lives. With four billion people online and 31 billion linked devices, mobile apps are emerging as the most sought-after means of doing business for everyone from your customers to allies to your workers. As per Yahoo Flurry’s State of Mobile report, consumers in the US at present are on mobile devices for over five hours daily, and 90 percent of their time on mobile is consumed by apps. As a result, the time spent on mobile web browsers has come down by several notches to mere eight percent. Due to the craze for apps, your website is having a tough time to retain traffic. This explains the potency of apps in these times.

In case you’re not into creating customer-facing or enterprise-facing mobile applications already, the time is ripe for you to do the same. So, here are five reasons why training your staff to create apps in-house will be ideal for you.

1. All are into apps

According to Gartner, 79 percent of organizations which were surveyed have hiked their mobile expenditure by 36 percent since 2015, and by the conclusion of 2017, 25 percent of enterprises will have their own app store to deal with corporate-approved apps. As per a new study by Wakefield Research of 1,000 executives at entities with more than1,000 employees dissects the the business demand:

97 percent of executives stated that employees or classification inside their organization have sought new mobile apps or app features.

98 percent of executives are of the view that their company would immensely benefit from certain kinds of mobile apps.

2. Enterprise apps enhance capability in the domain

If you have safe apps on phones or tablets they offer the best method to connect workers and exchange instant data and business intelligence. With proprietary and safe mobile apps, data can be evaluated and updated quickly by salespeople, technicians, partners and others who want instant and genuine information to finish their processes, at any time and from anywhere in the globe.

3. Customers are largely turning mobile

These days purchases through Mobile are going above in-store and even website-oriented buys. Reason for this revolutionary change happens to be young adult consumers. “People are increasingly preferring mobile purchases,” says Sachin Gupta, CMO at Code Brew. “69 percent of millennials buy from their mobile phones and this trend is going to rise by many manifolds by 2020.” As per Google’s Mobile Path to Purchase report, 26 percent of consumers consider a mobile app as the point of beginning when it comes to search with the objective to buy.

4. Mobile apps boost loyalty among customers

Apps go a long way in enhancing customer loyalty. The logo of a company’s mobile app on their phones makes an impression on them constantly. And if the app is linked in anyway to your company’s loyalty program, it leaves a positive effect. As per a report by SmallBizTrends 70 percent of smartphone users are using their smartphone to gather points to earn discounts. These also facilitate smart location-triggered features such as geofenced push notifications of discounts and reviews.

5. Third party app development can be costly and inefficient

Assigning mobile app development would come across a convenient strategy, it has its own drawbacks. According to Wakefield study, 96 percent of companies who enlisted the services of third-party vendors faced problems, such as:

Development costs spiked considerably (43 percent)

Huge maintenance expenses (41 percent), and

Deficit in customizable options (39 percent)

Moreover, 92 percent stated that the third-party came up with applications that was way below their expectations.

Opting for external vendors or developers also entail a lot of risks. These could be anything from inferior product quality, rampant delays as a result of different time zones and source code insecurity,including the problem of traps that make customer information available to hackers for misuse. So, these kinds of risks are not worth taking up.

Tips regarding app creation internally

Looking for app developers to work for your company is any day desirable. But, the short duration or seasonal type can turn this into an expensive affair. As per Glassdoor, the US national average wage for a mobile app developer in 2017 happened to be $92,067. This implies that you are paying more than $19,000 extra simply to onboard that new employee prior to even writing a line of code. Also as per the Wakefield study, 42 percent of businesses who outsourced their mobile app development said they don’t have adequate skilled staff and that is why they opted for external sources. However, mobile app development skills are very convenient and affordable to gain. Training your company’s entire IT team in every aspect of mobile app development (including the latest Advanced Java, Python, Selenium 3.0 or Angular coding), will be more cost-effective than the hiring expenses of one new employee, excluding their salary.

Conclusion

Mobile apps are increasingly turning out to be extremely necessary for businesses. By outsourcing mobile app development your company is leaning heavily on another business and turns everything into a costly affair and even endangers your code and customer data.

Selecting new employees is also very expensive, however upgrading your staff with the existing technologies of mobile app development can be a good business proposition. The dynamism and cost-effectiveness your company enjoys turns you very competitive and facilitates fresh mobile marketing prospects.

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Winklix’s Frontend Development History

Winklix's Frontend Development History

Previous year, the Frontend Web Development Team of ours shed the habit of using Ruby. So, the obvious question is: which is better? Vue or Angular? Simply identify the one we chose as our frontend language.

In the past, many of our projects got built on Ruby. Without a shred of doubt, during its heydays Ruby happened to be a much sought-after language every developer wished to work with. However, years later after spending a lot of time on legacy projects, we came to a conclusion that as a company we should leave the Frontend and strive to raise our standards in terms of speed. The frontend team had personally experimented with several Javascript frameworks from various client projects, We saw the rapid transformation of these frameworks in a short span. Hence, it was apparent that to develop projects at huge scale we should familiarize ourselves with these frameworks.

VUE VS ANGULAR: OUR Needs

Being a tiny team, we required something properly documented and we could get familiar with ease. While testing Vue vs Angular, we needed to find something that was very familiar, as we would be working in an agile way. We desired a framework that enables us to develop working prototypes quickly. Having undertaken certain internal projects with Angular in the past, we came to a conclusion that Angular and React would suffice. We desired Angular as it satisfied our usual needs and also gave us the confidence that we could develop prototypes in CodePen and import them into our codebase easily. This looked impossible for us.

The issues regarding Angular

We built some humongous projects, such as Omstars and Keetoo, with Angular applications that we expanded from a mini working prototype to applications having zillions of monthly users. These are what we came to know all along.

Angular Show

Angular comprises certain performance-related hiccups and there are a lot of efforts needed to increase your project performance. But, the efforts are something which no one should comprise while building apps. For example, refrain from taking recourse to the ng-repeat directive or restricting your use of binding.

Two-Way Data Binding

This happens to be something I first thought would be revolutionary while building apps. A constant check regarding the $scope variable (data that can be utilized from anywhere in the project) and watcher in the DOM can be done when users go through your application. This check is enrolled with user events (such as click, scroll, key etc). It must be noted that this has had a profound impact on the page loading time.

Shifting to Vue

After consuming a few weeks for research and to compare frameworks (Angular2, React & Vue) and also developing some internal apps with React and Vue, we came to a conclusion that Vue, the framework, is simply meant for us. Given below are the reasons that prompted us to go for Vue.

The VUE Capacity

Vue’s performance is unarguably several notches better than Angular. Vue gives the project in the virtual DOM which is certainly quicker than the digest cycle in Angular (two-way data binding).

HTML AND CSS Expertise

All Frontend Developers need to familiarize themselves with HTML and CSS prior to dealing with other languages or frameworks. While operating on Vue you feel a bit of Deja vu which is hardly the case with what other frameworks provide. The knowledge we gained from HTML and CSS held us in good stead while moving to Vue.

A Convenient Learning Expertise

The last but not the least was how easier Vue was for us to get familiar with and this happened majorly due to the robust documentation and the community. As we built the internal applications with React, we got to know that it was very tough to get the basics right, however, with Vue, the documentation happened to be riddled with small code examples to enable you to go through every step along the way.

Vue VS Angular: The Finale

We at Winklix will be continuing our journey with the Vue because as a team we have invested a lot on it. Along the way, as we strive to make internal tools and undertake client projects we would like to share our progress as well. We have got a lot of things to talk about the Vue also. In our next rendezvous, we will be explaining how to establish a Vue project for the first time.