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I am a first year "computer programmer" college student and I got an internship where I was asked to develop a simple cross platform mobile app. Nothing too complex, consists in a login screen, then a screen with a form where I'm using jQuery UI autocomplete to get some info from the DB, a select box, datepicker and a text area. The other screen is just a table with information with the current day, week and month records of whoever is logged in.

I am using HTML5 and CSS for the front-end and php with Codeigniter to connect to mySQL DB.

The question is: I intend to use phonegap to turn it into a hybrid mobile app. Would you consider this a good approach? Or would it be worth it to delay the project a little more and learn how to do it using Ionic framework for the front-end and learn how to use node.js to connect with the database? Also I could use Ionic for front-end so it feels more like a native app and still use Codeigniter to connect to my server. I'd love to read your opinions and suggestions on this.

Thanks in advance.

Lberteh
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I would highly recommend using Ionic for the app, you get a lot of stuff right out of the box that you will otherwise have to figure out your self. Getting started with ionic is as easy as writing 'ionic start' and choosing a name for your project and a template to start from. Depending on you level of web development skills you could really quickly end up with a app of spaghetti code without some kind of framework to set up some guidelines on how to structure your project.

As for the backend I will recommend you to use what ever you feel the most comfortable with as long as it easily can expose the REST endpoints you need.

iCediCe
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  • Thanks for the reply. I'm sorry for my ignorance, but what do you mean by spaghetti code? Also, I don't know exactly what you mean by exposing the REST endpoints. – Lberteh May 18 '16 at 14:09
  • Haha, sorry bout that, it might be a danish slang I just translated :) It mean that your project might be a mess without any proper structure. Using something like ionic (and therefore angular) you instantly get an idea of where to put templates, how to create services and what to put in your controllers. Ionic also comes with some really nice tools to quickly build and test your app, like 'creator', 'ionic view' and of cause the CLI which supports livereload both on browser and on device which gives you really quick results and feedback. – iCediCe May 18 '16 at 14:14
  • Once again, thanks a lot man. I tried to upvote your answer but apparently I can't do it cause I still don't have at least 15 reputation. – Lberteh May 18 '16 at 14:17
  • No problem. Glad i could help. – iCediCe May 18 '16 at 14:24
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Lucas Berte Schoenardie,

Since jquery mobile is not updated last two years so it will be better to choice IONIC which is using AngularJS (Google product) and App with Ionic is more native than PhoneGap( using jquery).

This reference on StockOverFlow may help you to take appropriate decision.

Thank you!

Community
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Toriqul Islam Tareq
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