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For the new project, I have been searching for a framework with support of HTML5 and runs on mobile, that is IPhone, IPads. I found out these:

The main thing for me is HTML5. Although I went over the features they offer, I just wanted to know your experience if any with them.

Which one should I go for when looking for:

  • Quick Start
  • Good documentation
  • Similar Web-way development
  • Good support for the mobile platform
Andrew Barber
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Sarfraz
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    I would go with jQuery Mobile. This might ad something to your decision - http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5071369/is-jquery-mobile-ready-for-production-use – jimmystormig Feb 27 '11 at 06:44
  • I'm interested in seeing the answer. How many of these frameworks augment html/js/css (e.g. jQuery Mobile) as opposed to being development environments that generate html/js/css (maybe like Cappuccino in the webapp world)? – johnhunter Feb 27 '11 at 12:48
  • It would help specifying what you would like to build. A web app mimicking a native app, lists, carousels, animations? You don't need a framework to create a HTML5 document that works on mobile devices. – antonj Mar 01 '11 at 20:50
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    You need to clarify what do you want to build finally: webapp or native app (but develop in HTML5)? Except Titanium, most of the framework is for webapp, you will need extra work to wrap them in a native app. But native app is much more powerful than webapp, especially you want to send email and upload file in iOS. – vincicat Mar 02 '11 at 03:51
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    What is the definitive answer to this question? It seems subjective to me. – Phrogz Mar 02 '11 at 05:19
  • What about Jo - just found this on Google - looks very feature rich: http://joapp.com/docs/index.html – Ash Jul 12 '11 at 08:20
  • @ChrisJohnson It is not appropriate to edit in a link to your own website in someone else's question. Please do not do this again. – Andrew Barber Oct 02 '12 at 17:59
  • I actually think there is a definitive answer to 'the best' framework. You guys should check out [Lungo](lungo.tapquo.com) - I have NO IDEA how this has gone unnoticed. Not only is it more modern, more performant, but the code quality is IPMECCABLE. Seriously look into it. – Steve Benner Apr 19 '14 at 20:44

11 Answers11

123

It depends on what your target audience is and how interactive the site you are building is.

jQTouch:
heavy on the CSS, light on the JavaScript, MIT license
For a framework that provides a quick start, but not a lot of documentation unfortunately, use jQTouch. It requires very little to get started and coding is fairly straight forward. It uses CSS classes for detecting the appropriate animations and interactions.

Sencha Touch:
almost completely JavaScript, GPL not for use on commercial sites without a license
If you are building a complex enterprise application with a lot of visual interactions, I would strongly recommend Sencha Touch, it is heavily documented, with a strong professional team providing support.

M-Project:
MIT license, heavy on the JavaScript, appears to be in Alpha, may be buggy
Although I have never worked with M-Project myself (thanks for pointing it out) it does appear to be a very robust, and the coding style appears to be very similar to Sencha Touch, which is based on ExtJS, so if your team already has experience with ExtJS, it might be wise to consider one of these frameworks.

Nimblekit:
This appears to be for iOS only, not a good thing if you ever decide to expand your application to Android or some other platform.

Wink Toolkit:
appears to be MIT, or some variation there of In my opinion, wink seems to have plenty going for it, but the documentation feels cold

jQuery Mobile:
Dual license MIT or GPL 2, just the right mixture of JavaScript and CSS
I will let someone with more experience talk about the merits, but jQuery mobile (though it is in alpha as well) is backed by a strong team and a community of supporters by extension of the core jQuery library. Probably the best choice for anything except the most enterprise centric applications.

Titanium:
Titanium is not an HTML5 mobile framework, it is a javascript based interface to native code modules included in the framework. It is a fairly straight forward framework, but I would consider the documentation sparse.

Bottom Line:
1. jQuery mobile - as long as your app is not enterprise centric
2. Sencha Touch - if your application is enterprise centric or heavy on user interactions
3. jQTouch - if what you are looking for is a simple framework to get started with quickly, but you don't need a lot of gusto.
4. Titanium - if you are more concerned with having actual native controls in your application

Demonstration Apps

There is an open source project, PropertyCross, which demonstrates the same application implemented with a range of cross platform frameworks. It is very useful for comparing the code, development experience and end-user experience of the various frameworks.

ColinE
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samshull
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    jqTouch was bought by Sencha some time ago to create Sencha Touch. jqTouch is based on jQuery and Sencha Touch was ported to ExtJS – pakman Apr 18 '11 at 18:10
  • [jQTouch is still open source](https://github.com/senchalabs/jQTouch/blob/master/LICENSE.txt), and Sencha Touch is a port of ExtJS – samshull Apr 19 '11 at 14:26
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    BEWARE of non-native select boxes in jQuery Mobile. They will kill your phone's memory. – King Friday Feb 27 '12 at 00:48
  • I've created an open source project http://propertycross.com that helps select a cross-platform mobile framework by showing the same application implemented with Sencha, Titanium, Xamarin and more ... – ColinE Dec 28 '12 at 15:12
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    What do you mean enterprise centric? – Mark Boulder Mar 17 '14 at 23:25
14

jQuery Mobile is better and have nice support!!

eos87
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Stick with jQuery mobile. It faster then jQtouch. It also has better documentation then senchas. Senchas initial load time is slow. Overall, jQuery mobile wins my bet.

Hussein
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This framework I recommended here is quite new, but you may want to try it in the future: Mobl - HTML5 for mobile appliccation.

Actually, it's a DSL (Domain specific language) to build HTML 5 application on mobile. It's constructed by Zef Hemel as part of his Ph.D thesis, and allow a very easy way to build an HTML5 application quickly

About your request:

  1. Quick start: yes, it's very simple to start developing with Mobl. Just add an Eclipse add-on and change some configuration.

  2. Documentation: the tutorial is good enough, but it lacks the navigation, I mean, a comprehensive structure. I hope they will add it soon.

  3. Similar web-development: I don't think it is. As a DSL, Mobl has different structure (similar syntax to javascript, though) comparing to web scripting language (HTML, Javascript,...). But it doesn't take much time to understand them.

  4. Support: This thing is not good. At this early stage, Mobl community is very restricted.

Hoàng Long
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6

jQuery mobile is a good option to opt, it has Good documentation and support also here is a good article, you'll get some idea which one to choose...

Rafay
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4

You may also want to take a look at PhoneGap (opensource). It also has a free build service in the cloud that will pump out native apps for most of the popular phones from a single source code base. I haven't tried it myself but it sounded intriguing.

fynnbob
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I would start with HTML 5 boiler plate. It's a little bit heavy but you can add or remove as much as you want from it. Definitely the most complete HTML5 template I've found. Then I would go with jQuery Mobile. It's not out of alpha yet, so it's expectedly a little bit buggy but there's a great community behind it and it has a good structure for creating plugins.

alexia
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Greg Guida
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You might also want to look into Google Web Toolkit, which enables you to write mobile HTML5 apps in Java. GWT has a templating system where you can include HTML and CSS, so that the major difference will be that you're writing in Java instead of Javascript. Sencha Touch which has been mentioned before, also comes in a GWT version called Gwt4Touch.

user0b101010
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There is also http://zeptojs.com, which is aiming at small footprint, < 5Kb with most jquery core features.

bdargan
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2

I would also consider Skeleton.

Docs / demo site here: http://www.getskeleton.com/

Dan Esparza
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1

For your future projects you may also look at DHTMLX Touch, a free, open source framework for building mobile web apps. It's quite easy to get start with and has live support forum. Some demos: http://www.dhtmlx.com/touch/samples/

(I work for DHTMLX)

Paul
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