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Has Parity Finally Been Achieved Between Websites and Their iOS Application Equivalents?

11 Jan 2018 Developer News
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"HTML5 for Web Designers" (CC BY 2.0) by acebal

In the early days of the smartphone, one of the main issues that users had was the fact that accessing some websites from the smaller screen was inferior to browsing them from a desktop computer. Owners of products like the initial Apple iPhone will remember all the screen-pinching they had to do to explore websites that hadn’t yet been adapted to the newer platform. But now that mobile usage has surpassed that of desktops, with over $2.3 billion people owning a device, websites have had to evolve and make sure that their mobile versions are on the same level as their standard versions. We have now reached a stage in which it could be argued that parity has been achieved.

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Two major innovations which have led to iOS applications reaching the same standard as their web-based counterparts are the mobile web and HTML5. The mobile web refers to internet services accessible from smartphones and tablets and, in recent years, it has become far more readily available. The increased usage of WIFI has helped the mobile web surge and, in 2016, mobile web use overtook desktop for the first time. Another reason for this usurpation is the fact that smartphones and internet connections are way more powerful than they were in the past.

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With the internet speed improved, the pages also had to look right and work properly. This is where HTML5 came in. The fifth version of HTML came about in 2014 and was designed to support the latest developments in multimedia. It was also written in such a way that made it easy to understand by humans and computers, and so that it can be easily transferable between devices. No longer would internet users have to download plugins to run certain things - everything would be covered by HTML5.

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In the last few years, you may have noticed significant improvements in the websites that you visit from your mobile, and that is all thanks to HTML5. With a lot of people choosing to gamble on the go, online casinos have been quick to adopt the new software and allow smartphone users to enjoy their sites in the same way as they would from a desktop. For instance, Mr Green’s casino & sportsbook app has even won awards and was voted as the 2016 Casino App of the Year. This is because it features an easily accessible game lobby, and is fast and reliable.

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Facebook is another prime example of an app that has improved massively since HTML5 was introduced. Users now find the mobile version as easy to navigate as the desktop offering. The only minor differences are that some things, such as the list of online friends, are located elsewhere. Banking services like Lloyds are also finding that HTML5 has allowed them to create apps that rival web pages. Checking one’s balance and sending money is now easier than ever.

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Looking at how far mobile apps have come in such a short space of time, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a further decline in desktop browsing. Businesses are now clearly designing their mobile pages first and then looking to the desktop offering as a secondary consideration.

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