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I want to create a Mobile + Desktop responsive application using GWT for the dynamic part. It will not be a single page app, but I wonder if any compatibility issues remain in the created JS or are all major mobile browser being supported by the GWT compiler / framework.

Also I wonder what the best way to go is. Usually we would use bootstrap and annotate html elements with custom ids and run a single GWT script / program which enhances and extends the annotated elements.

Since we have to react on browser resize events I wonder if there are any quirks (as before) or is this event now stable?

Martin Kersten
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1 Answers1

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Have you considered mgwt? There are many pitfalls in pure GWT-for-mobile implementations that this library tries to take care of. You can mix mgwt and GWT widgets to a certain extent.

A few points to consider:

  1. Bootstrap is heavy. It's not an issue for desktop these days, but still may be a concern in mobile apps.

  2. GWT is heavy. GWT 3.o promises to be lighter because it drops support for (very) old browsers. mgwt already uses lightweight, mobile/touch-optimized implementations of key widgets (no IE6-8 on mobile devices!).

  3. Resizing layouts using JavaScript is very slow compared to native browser layouts. Again, not an issue on modern desktops but a key factor for mobile devices. If you go with pure GWT, use flex-box layouts.

  4. Animations are very important on mobile devices. They are not just an eye-candy: they indicate to a user what is happening (consider, for example, swipes). You may want to look at mgwt's implementation of animated displays.

  5. Mobile apps are very dependent on screen density. If you go with pure GWT, look at how mgwt's uses deferred binding to optimize for different screen densities.

Andrei Volgin
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  • Currently mgwts showcase shows: ERROR: Possible problem with your *.gwt.xml module file. – Martin Kersten Sep 19 '14 at 06:10
  • I was considering mgwt and just asked myself how gwt has changed in the recent versions. 3. The resizing was just about the resizing of a browser window and catching that event. As I remember it was a event that was flawed and do not report the correct size or fire at all in certain circumstances. – Martin Kersten Sep 19 '14 at 06:11
  • As for GWT 3.0 I heared that they will feature a mobile ready widget set based on the web components standard. I am looking forward to it. – Martin Kersten Sep 19 '14 at 06:12
  • 1. mgwt showcase works fine for me - I checked a few seconds ago. 2. Many GWT widgets implement `ProvidesResize` and `RequiresResize`, so it's not just the resize handler you attach to a Window object. mgwt, instead, relies on a flex-box model. 3. Daniel Kurka, the author of mgwt, works at Google now. I guess that GWT and mgwt may merge, or, at least, get even closer over time. 4. mgwt has issues (lack of documentation is one of them), but it's quite usable. And it gets better over time. – Andrei Volgin Sep 19 '14 at 07:24
  • Look at this http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10751686/gwt-mgwt-development-and-deployment-for-mobile-apps?rq=1 – Andrei Volgin Sep 19 '14 at 07:25