I have never seen this type of EditText, Toggle Button and Bottom Bar Button used by Opera Mobile / Mini in other applications on Android. I want to know which GUI framework they have used to build such a great cross platform UI application?. Is there any open source framework available for this or they have used their own proprietary. Also I want to know how can we develop such a great user interface based applications?.
It's a custom framework, see the press release for what is public about it.
Related
So that I don't ask the wrong question, my end goal is to build a PWA that is accessible from Android 5.x and up now and iOS later in the year. The main problem with this is Classic Bluetooth is not yet stable/standardized enough for the web.
My next plan was to build a "native" app (in .NET MAUI so that I can reuse parts in iOS) using a WebView for displaying the PWA and calling back to the native app for Bluetooth. The problem here is the WebView version on the devices I have to support doesn't support PWAs, service workers, etc. (upgrading the hundred or so hardware devices is not possible, upgrading the OS is not possible, and it's pre-Android-8 so upgrading WebView is not possible without a new ROM).
Finally I've tried installing Chrome via device management and using "Chrome Custom Tabs" from MAUI. The simplest implementation works:
// Browser is <IBrowser>Microsoft.Maui.ApplicationModel.Browser.Default
await Browser.OpenAsync(
"https://www.whatismybrowser.com/detect/what-is-my-user-agent/",
BrowserLaunchMode.SystemPreferred);
and the tab is displayed "in" my app, however the location bar is shown within the tab:
Which brings me to the question:
How do I use a Chrome Custom Tab from MAUI but hide the location bar? Is this even possible?
There's little to no documentation on this for MAUI. I've tried looking through the MAUI source, but all I can see are some options:
await Browser.OpenAsync("https://www.whatismybrowser.com/detect/what-is-my-user-agent/", new BrowserLaunchOptions
{
LaunchMode = BrowserLaunchMode.SystemPreferred, // open inside the MAUI app, i.e. Custom Tab
TitleMode = BrowserTitleMode.Hide, // doesn't seem to have any effect
Flags = BrowserLaunchFlags.LaunchAdjacent // the only Android flag
});
The LaunchAdjacent flag just opens "up" instead of sideways. The other flags are for iOS, detailed here. The TitleMode doesn't seem to do anything.
Reading about Chrome Custom Tabs here, it appears it's not possible, unless I own the destination URL and setup a Trusted Web Activity. Hosting a web app combined with a native app for Bluetooth may be the only way to go if I can't use a WebView.
I have a Firefox add on implemented as a web extension.
When I install the app on firefox for android, there is no button to trigger the action for the app - this is because browser actions are not supported on Firefox for Android
So, next I looked into adding a context menu item, to allow the user to trigger the extension that way. However, unfortunately the context menu API is not supported in Firefox for android either.
So - what options do I have with regards to adding some sort of UI so that the user can trigger my web extension?
It seems like the only answers to this at the current time are:
i) to use pageActions which weren't really designed for this purpose (they are supposed to be for things which are only applicable to certain pages.
ii) as in #Makyen comment above to add something to the dom which is clickable
I doubt it is, but is it possible to detect if the volume button is pressed, by jQuery or any of the web languages?
I want to do some basic user testing, to investigate by which way it's best to call a certain function; either a gesture or a hardware button. I't not a problem to call a function based on a touch gesture, but calling a function based on pressing a hardware button is a bit more difficult.
As I got both an Android phone and iPhone here, it doesn't matter if it only works on one of both devices.
Since I can't write C++, this language isn't an option. Even though this language does support hardware button detection
What I want to create
It's the most basic version of a test: I want to see by which way people would like to switch from round to squared display.
There is a simple round object in the center and it should transform to a square, based on any of the following gestures: A hardware button press (volume), pinch, pinch-out, 4-finger pinch out, 2 finger swipe down.
Short answer:
If you're running this in a mobile browser (e.g. Safari or Chrome), you don't have access to the volume buttons.
Explanation:
JQuery relies on JavaScript which relies on a browser, webview (for native apps), or a node.js server (irrelevant for you). Webviews tend to be like a browser but with fewer features. The main browsers out there do not provide access to the volume buttons. Therefore, jQuery isn't going to solve this for you.
Solution:
You're going to need a native app if you really want to use the volume buttons. On Android, apps are written in Kotlin (based on Java). On iOS, they're written in Swift (or Objective-C). If you know only one or none of those languages, there are cross-platform tools that'll let you write the app once and deploy to both platforms. Depending on the level of control you want, you could use a tool that provides a unified framework or go for a fancy drag-and-drop builder. There are TONS of options out there.
Extra:
Looking at your history, it seems like you're a "web" guy. If you just want to use jQuery/JavaScript for the convenience, you could create a simple native app that basically does just two things: 1) Load your webapp, and 2) Provide an API to the webapp for accessing the volume buttons. This topic will get you moving in that direction: Calling android native APIs from javascript functions of embedded WebView
I encourage other web folks to hack around a little on mobile platforms. You never know when a base level understanding could come in handy.
I am programming an Android keyboard. Right now I reached the point where I have to rewrite the KeyboardView and I'm asking myself why not to switch to an Webapp instead of a native Android app. Thereby I could later easily deploy the application for other platforms whithout the need of rewriting.
My approach would be to use the Android App as an container for my web app probaply in combination with GWT. I am also considering using PhoneGap.
The problem is that so far I haven't found anything about people using webapps for an InputMethod. Now I'm wondering if it's reasonable or even possible to use webapps for this task or if they are only suitable for normal activities.
Has anyone tried doing this before or some hints why or why not it is possible?
i have developed an app, running on iphone and android, using phonegap and jquery mobile.
The combination of them is really great.
To support multi platform, I have also evaluated some other platforms too, but the problem that i have is that the UI does not feel native (and although not a problem for most apps performance cannot be compared with native).
The only solution so far giving acces to native UI seems to be monotouch.
Do you have any suggestions on platforms offering native ui at least on iphone and android, regardless of language used?
Thanks.
The only way to have native UI response is to write native apps.
The native UI is a puzzle indeed. You need read HIG firstly, cook UI with color and images to get close with system default ones. But if you are using PhoneGap thing, why do you even worry about it? Just rely on framework to get close the look and feel. Get your app really useful is more attractive than looking accustomed for user.
But it is important to adjust interactive design to avoid conflict. For example iOS navigation bar has return button in left most part, don't put it at right. And Android user will get disappoint if there is no response for long pressing or context menu key pressing.
for now i will go with a mixed on js based on phonegap and native controls plugin which i will extend as needed.