{"id":3456,"date":"2023-01-16T10:27:32","date_gmt":"2023-01-16T09:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.tomayac.com\/2023\/01\/16\/why-not-everyones-building-for-the-web-yet-but-why-potentially-they-should\/"},"modified":"2023-01-16T10:27:32","modified_gmt":"2023-01-16T09:27:32","slug":"not-everyones-currently-building-for-the-web-but-probably-more-people-should","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomayac.com\/wordpress\/2023\/01\/16\/not-everyones-currently-building-for-the-web-but-probably-more-people-should\/","title":{"rendered":"Not everyone’s currently building for the Web, but probably more people should"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t

If you want to build an app, you have several ways of doing it. You can build a\nplatform-specific app for the platforms you care about, for example, Windows,\nAndroid, and iOS. In which case you would build three apps. You can also build a\n(progressive) Web app, possibly in addition to<\/em> platform-specific apps.\nAlternatively, you can choose a cross-platform framework such as\nElectron.js<\/a> or\nIonic<\/a> that promises to let you write once and run\nanywhere. Let me begin by walking you through three extraordinary examples of\napps whose makers chose to also<\/em> build for the Web, apart from building\nplatform-specific apps.<\/p>\n

Beacon cases that demonstrate the Web's abilities \ud83d\udd17<\/a><\/h2>\n

Photoshop \ud83d\udd17<\/a><\/h3>\n

I always saw Photoshop as one of the last bastions of high quality apps that\nsupposedly would never make it to the Web platform. Forget that\u2014this last\nbastion has finally fallen. With Photoshop<\/a>,\nAdobe, together with Chromium engineering, has managed to get a beta version of\nPhotoshop running in the browser that can serve as the new beacon showcase of\nwhat is possible on the Web. In it, you can try out the commenting workflow and\ntest some early Photoshop editing features Adobe is piloting on the Web. You and\nyour collaborators can now open and view Photoshop cloud documents in the\nbrowser, provide feedback, and make basic edits. All in one place without having\nto download or launch the app.<\/p>\n

\n \"Adobe\n
\n Photoshop on the Web\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Visual Studio Code \ud83d\udd17<\/a><\/h3>\n

Similarly, Microsoft has launched\nVisual Studio Code on the Web<\/a>,\na fully fledged, installable Web experience of its integrated development\nenvironment (IDE) that makes developing completely in the browser possible,\nincluding the option to open and edit files on the local file system.<\/p>\n

\n \"Microsoft\n
\n VS Code on the Web\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Twitter \ud83d\udd17<\/a><\/h3>\n

Lastly Twitter\u2014whose progressive Web app (PWA) is\nlargely seen<\/a>\nas probably the best mainstream Progressive Web App<\/em>\u2014has\nused<\/a>\nits responsive Web codebase for all platforms, mobile and desktop, via Web\nbrowsers. On Windows, the PWA is the experience the company is confident enough\nto make the<\/em> Twitter experience that you get when you\ninstall<\/a>\nthe app from the Microsoft Store.<\/p>\n

\n \"Microsoft\n
\n Twitter in the Microsoft Store\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Linkability and universality: the Web's super powers \ud83d\udd17<\/a><\/h2>\n

All three companies, Adobe, Microsoft, and Twitter, in parallel with their Web\napps, have well-established, platform-specific Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and\nLinux versions of their apps Photoshop, Visual Studio Code, and Twitter\nrespectively. So why did they build for the Web on top? The answer lies in its\nlinkability and universality.<\/p>\n

As Google's Thomas Nattestad\nput it<\/a>:\n"The simple power of a URL is that anyone can click it and instantly access it.\nAll you need is a browser. There is no need to install an application or worry\nabout what operating system you are running on"<\/em>.\nAccording to<\/a>\nMicrosoft's Chris Dias<\/a>, with Visual Studio Code\nfor the Web, when working with GitHub "you can make quick edits, review PRs,\nand continue on to a local clone"<\/em>. The sole fact that you can share a link to\nyour work unlocks collaboration patterns that users have embraced and loved\nsince the birth of apps such as Google Docs. Twitter, of course, lives and dies\nby its links. News sites regularly\nlink to newsworthy tweets<\/a>,\nwhich means "keeping it quick"<\/em>\nis core<\/a>\nto ensuring people can get from an article straight into the app, where they can\nread or engage with the linked tweet.<\/p>\n

Web applications are inherently universal. They run on whatever operating system\nis capable of running a Web browser and they do not need to be compiled for each\noperating system separately. The same code base powers the application on all\nplatforms. This does not mean that there are no compatibility issues\u2014there are\nplenty actually\u2014but there is a\nsolid, shared, increasing baseline<\/a> that all\napplications can build upon.<\/p>\n

Linkability of platform-specific apps \ud83d\udd17<\/a><\/h3>\n

While more ubiquitous on mobile, linking into a platform-specific app from the\nWeb on desktop is comparatively rare. On mobile (and macOS), this works via a\ntechnology called\nUniversal Links<\/a> on iOS (and\non macOS), and App Links<\/a> on\nAndroid. Platform-specific apps alternatively can rely on\nregistered protocol schemes<\/a>\nsuch as itms-apps:<\/code> for when you want to deep-link into the App Store app on\nmacOS or iOS, or register your own custom schemes for your own apps. So while\ntechnically possible, linking into platform-specific apps is a lot less flexible\nand requires more plumbing work than simply linking into a Web app.<\/p>\n

The slow decline of interest in cross-platform app frameworks and the rise of Flutter \ud83d\udd17<\/a><\/h2>\n

The Web isn't the only platform that promises "write once, run anywhere"<\/em>.\nCross-platform frameworks \u00e0 la<\/em> Electron.js do, too. With the Web becoming\npowerful enough to drive apps such as Photoshop that were thought to be\nimpossible, we can, however, observe a slow decline of interest in\ncross-platform desktop app frameworks such as\nElectron.js<\/a> and NW.js<\/a>, and\nmobile app frameworks such as Cordova<\/a> or\nReact Native<\/a>; while at the same time there is an\nundeniable increase of interest in Flutter<\/a>.<\/p>\n