I ask a suggestion about a user Experience issueaccessing a browser URL on a mobile phone:
how can a "basic" user EASILY can access a web app on the browser of a handset (mobile phone/tablet, with possibly a solution not dependent on the specific OS (as usual: Android (mainly I'm interested on this OS)/iOS/Windows Phone/etc. on the handset ?
In other terms:
How can I set a simple OS-indipendent (BROWSER-indipendent) URL desktop-shortcut ?
I explain better:
I realized a simple html/css/js/bootstrap web app (e-commerce) to be used from a handset. Some screnshots here:
https://twitter.com/solyarisoftware/status/478946171420155904/photo/1
https://twitter.com/solyarisoftware/status/477373808551411712/photo/1
The web app (that user access through the browser of the handset) could be a possible valid alternative to an expensive native app. But I have this problem:
because my application is an e-commerce (in food realms) that could be used by a vast body of people tipically "inexpert" ... in facts many users that access phone apps have difficulties to just enter a URL on a web browser...
I confess I get bored myself to enter a long URL, let say:
http://mysuperbecommerce.com/mymarketplace/myshop
so, how to do to SIMPLIFY the access to the URL for the lazy/inexpert users ?
I thinked about some possible solutions:
SOLUTION 1. A BROWSER DESKTOP URL SHORTCUT
(obvious! you could say!) Of course, but this is not so perfect:
- is usually a specific feature of the browser... and by example in my case, with an Android phone, with Chrome. Dolphin and native Android browser I get confused myself to save and retrieve shortcuts ...
- is dependendt by the OS
SOLUTION 2. "DIRECTORY" APP LUNCH AN "INTENT"
I thinked about a native app that just act as "redirector", I read here and there some Android code: the native app just start and run the "Intent" giving a URL to the browser... make sense ?
Maybe something interesting here:
Adding URL shortcut to mobile screen through a link on the website
Nevertheless I'm asking if there is a better way, maybe an (Android) app just made with this scope ? (I didn't find it)
SOLUTION 3. HYBRID-NATIVE APP
Ok... Embed the web app in some Hybrid-native framework (as Phonegap/Cordova)
Any suggestion welcome!
Thanks for your patience
giorgio
A possible "solution" for Android OS I used
is this very essential "Web Shortcuts" app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.unknowndevelopers.bm
BTW, There are someones similar: "ShortcutToURL" or "URLWidget" apps.
Is not a perfect solution, any alternative suggestion still welcome.
Related
I don't know it is suitable place for this question or not, if this is not the right place please redirect me to the right one. i am asking this question after spending 3-4 days. Please be with me.
I have a web app/Mobile app(Android and iOS) something like small ERP application. We want audio calling feature for the application, we have been looking for days but didn't get a suitable solution.
Our Requirement is
Browser - Browser Calling,
App to browser,
App to App,
browser to app
we don't need internet to phone feature. Ultimately we are looking for a solution that will allow user to call directly without knowing the phone number.
In my research i came across WebRTC, but didn't understand the logic.
so if there is any way (library or something) (free/paid), any kind of information will be helpful (article/library/webpage/explanation). To give me a path to move forward with the research.
thanks.
Paid Library :
1) Zipper -- It has native sdk for mobile and Javascript sdk for mobile or web. https://www.zoiper.com/en/voip-sdk
2) ToxBox is also good library for voice call. https://tokbox.com/
Open Source :
Try Linphone- Its good for voice calling - they also provide sdk for Mobile and web.
https://www.linphone.org
Open Source
http://www.pjsip.org/ - SIP platform based
This is my first time on StackOverflow, so I come with two questions at the same time because they are related :
1 - I have a website that works great on my local server. It is made on Joomla. I heard about the "WebView" thing that iPhone and Android offer and I would like to know if it is possible, still in 2015/2016 to make an app that is basically just a WebView of a website ?
2 - If yes, I saw on old forums (earliest 2014) that Apple rejects WebView apps. Is it still the case nowadays, is there any "tricks" I should know about it ?
Thank you very much
Yes you can make the WebView only app but it should be mobile responsive
No apple don't reject the app with only webview in it but the website should be mobile responsive and you have to fill all other info to approve it(I know because I have few apps with webview only).
I don’t have any knowledge for iOS but I can tell you about android one:
In android devices you can open a web site through 2 different ways, the first one is through web browser and the second one is the one you mentioned web view. Web view is a system component for Android OS that allows your application to display content from the web page directly inside it (the application).
Yes it is still available for Android you can make one.
It's my first posting on here (although I've been using this site for reference for quite some time).
I've been trying for several days now to find or dream up a way to use Facebook's "Single Sign On" from within a mobile web app (not a native iOS or Android app) to automatically sign a user into a web app if they are already logged into Facebook from the native Facebook app on their mobile device for example.
My limited knowledge is telling me that it can't be done since the mobile browser and the 'system' (iOS for example) are too separated (I can't, I don't think, have my mobile web app use or access the native Facebook app on a mobile device in any way).
I have found and read the iOS, Android AND Mobile documentation provided by Facebook (https://developers.facebook.com/docs/guides/mobile/) which all seems to make enough sense, but after days of trawling through everything else I could find on the subject there doesn't seem to be a way to use, for example, the Facebook app on an iPhone or Android device to automatically log a user in to my web app if he/she is already logged into Facebook.
I've read lots about doing this from within 3rd party native apps and also other people trying to achieve a similar thing from within Desktop apps but I'm trying and hoping to be able to achieve this from a web app running within a mobile web browser.
I'd be very grateful for any help, opinions or pointers in the right direction since I think this would be an excellent step forward in UI for mobile web apps to have (not just the native apps).
Many thanks in advance...
Probably a bit late to the party but in case anyone else is wondering yes it's possible with Cordova/Phonegap and the Facebook Connect Plugin: https://github.com/davejohnson/phonegap-plugin-facebook-connect/
Using the FB.getLoginStatus() method at startup allows to check if the user is already signed in with the native Facebook App and retrieve its profile. More details in the examples provided in the repo.
I have not yet implemented it myself, but seems possible according to:
http://developers.facebook.com/docs/mobile/web/build/#login
Does anyone have any suggestions for the best way to create a web link that, depending on the device the user is browsing with will direct them to a website (for laptop/desktops), the App Store (for iOS devices), the Play Store (for Android devices) or the Win8 store, with a default to the website if device type is unknown?
At the moment, the best option seems to be to direct users to a website exclusively, with smart banners that will show a link to the App Store on relevant devices using the following code in the site header:
<meta name="apple-itunes-app" content="app-id=myAppStoreID, affiliate-data=myAffiliateData, app-argument=myURL">
But this is inelegant and can be missed by site visitors plus the additional step leads to a high dropoff. Any suggestions or thoughts would be appreciated!
Rather delayed reply but here goes:
Detect which OS is being used using Javascript code. Link
Change the hyperlink based on whether it is an iPhone Android or Windows.
If its iPhone use this, if its Android use this and for Windows use this
Hope that helped!
The company I work for is exploring creating "an app" version of their online video delivery webapp. The webapp is HTML5 and streams video. Nothing too scary but a lot of the stuff is server-side authentication with third party video hosts, code that will never be in a mobile app for security reasons.
The webapp has a lovely mobile stylesheet that works fine. We want an app that:
Shows a quick splash screen (and even that's optional)
Load the existing mobile website (not include it within the app)
And have the ability to specify an icon, give it a name and then shove it in the relevant marketplaces. That should satisfy the marketing department and it means I stay in control of what the app actually does.
Yeah, it's possibly the laziest app development ever... But, what's the simplest way to generate something like this? I was imagining there might be something out there already where you feed it your starting URL, splash screen, icon and name and it hands you back a multi-platform app.
Note: I'm not looking for something to create an app that looks like the mobile website and I'm not looking to put the content of the mobile website inside the app, I essentially just want a browser that loads the real mobile site.
Have a look at https://www.shoutem.com/. They provide a service similar to what you seem to be looking for but they charge royally for it. Considering the extra features you can easily add with their service your marketing department might just smell profit from using it and may therefore happily sign it off with their well known satanic smile.
There are a number of websites which provide easy web app development for a website. One of the famous is App Maker . Others include:http://www.viziapps.com/ and http://ibuildapp.com/
Since posting this, I have found:
http://www.websitetoapp.net/create
Feed it a URL and an Icon and it'll give you an Android app. Pay $5 and they'll disable adverts. Seems like it might be perfect for the Android half of this project.
Now, is there anything out there that will do this for other platforms?