Nial Giacomelli has done a bang-up job with Showtime, his web app for keeping track of your favorite TV shows. It’s not fabulous “for a web app”, it’s fabulous period.
John Gruber has two fair and true complaints about it:
- Scrolling (it’s slow even at maximum speed.)
- The ON/OFF toggle switch has to be tapped (instead of the deeply satisfying native ability to slide it as well.)
As someone who’s into iPhone web apps, I’m going to side with Nial and focus on the positive.
The latter problem, the toggle, is fully solvable. There’s no technical reason this can’t be done with Javascript; it’s just not a ton of fun recreating native behaviors (who am I kidding - yes it is, sometimes!) If Nial doesn’t fix this soon, I’ll take a crack at it. But here’s the punchline: when it’s fixed, it’ll be fixed on everyone’s copy of Showtime the next time they launch it. How much would SDK developers give up to gain that ability?
The former problem - scrolling - may be trickier, or even unsolvable (or not!) It’s a bummer. But, I can live with it. I know Nial’s developing this with a pocket knife and a can of plumber’s putty, so I’m granting him a generous handicap.
Soapbox digression
I have no opinion on whether people should choose to develop for the iPhone natively or using the web app technologies. Diff’rent Strokes. But, I will say this: people are already developing the hell out of some web apps. The web is huge on the iPhone, and apps will not replace it, ever. If you have an iPhone web app, try to have a great one! It’s not just adjusting font sizes; Showtime should be your guide to how sweet your website could look in somebody’s hand. </soapbox>
(Oh, and there’s a similar TV-show-tracking native app: TV Forecast. Also excellent.)
