Better Than Native

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Robin Rendle on

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Andy Bell wrote up his thoughts about the whole web versus native app debate which I think is super interesting. It was hard to make it through the post because I was nodding so aggressively as I read:

The whole idea of competing with native apps seems pretty daft to me, too. The web gives us so much for free that app developers could only dream of, like URLs and the ability to publish to the entire world for free, immediately.

[…] I believe in the web and will continue to believe that building Progressive Web Apps that embrace the web platform will be far superior to the non-inclusive walled garden that is native apps and their app stores. I just wish that others thought like that, too.

Andy also quotes Jeremy Keith making a similar claim to bolster the point:

If the goal of the web is just to compete with native, then we’ve set the bar way too low.

I entirely agree with both Andy and Jeremy. The web should not compete with native apps that are locked within a store. The web should be better in every way — it can be faster and more beautiful, have better interactions, and smoother animations. We just need to get to work.