Research Project Artefact 5

I started making an online mobile web app.

Research Project Artefact 4

Research Project Artefact 4

Mobile Web Apps - Testing

•From my last artefact I came to a conclusion that I wanted to test mobile web apps in different browsers to see if they work they same on different browsers, I also found out that they Mobile Web Apps only work on smartphone screen sizes, I want to test the mobile Web App on a tablet and it did not work it went to the normal website.

•I tested Facebook on iPhone4s and on a Samsung Galaxy. I tested on ten people in my family.

Iphone4s testing results

•Testing Facebook on the iPhone4s people were happy using it, they found it easy to use across all the browsers but on the opera browser it was not working very well and the design was different from the other browsers, this is because the browser was not updated to handle Mobile Web Apps. One problem was coming up that on all the browsers it was slow to load up the content but on Firefox it was taking double the time from the other browsers to load up.

•One browser that was good on both platforms was “Dolphin browser” it was really good, the browser was fast and very user friendly.

•All the browsers need to be updated to handle the Mobile Web Apps, so if a Mobile Web App is not working well on a browser is the browser fault not the Mobile Web App.

Iphone4s testing results screenshots

This across all of the browsers as you can see there is not much of a difference between them, they all look the same.

Iphone4s testing results screenshots

Samsung Galaxy testing results 

•Testing Facebook on the Samsung Galaxy, I had the same responses as I got for the iphone4s testing everything was the same, but on the Firefox was crashing and not working very well at all and opera browser was the same as it was on the iPhone.

•This across all of the browsers as you can see there is not much of a difference between them, they all look the same.

Samsung Galaxy testing results 

conclusion

I tested Facebook “Web App” on Apple and Android platforms, I wanted to see what would be the differences between the different browsers and to see if the Web App works the same way as the Native App works.

I tested Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, Dolphin and the default browsers on both platforms. I also went to see that if the Web App works on a tablet size screen and it did not work on a Samsung Tab and on a iPad, so by doing this testing I have found out two new things that I was not aware of before I did this testing, one is that the Web Apps are similar across the different browsers and the other one is that when they have designed a Web App is only for “Smartphone” Screen sizes.

I have found out that it is not the Web App fault that on some browser it may not work properly, it is the browser fault that it does not keep up to data with the new Web App codes, browsers need to be be updating the browsers so they can make the Web Apps useable and user friendly.

Most browsers are up to data to handle the Web Apps and browsers are working very hard to be able to handle Web Apps because I believe the future would be using Web Apps than native apps.

For my next artefact I will be trying my best to make a very simple Web App and I will  see how hard it is to make and to see if it works the same across the different browsers.

Research Project Artefact 3

The results from my last two artefacts showed that “Responsive Web Design” is better than apps, these results were from the questioner and the testing that I did.

I researched online to find some evidence to support my results, I found some good research supporting my results.

In my research I came across “Mobile Web Apps”, which this is something new for me to explore into.

Responsive web design is better than apps in a lot of ways, responsive web design is one coded website that fits all different kinds of screen sizes, it does not matter what operating system your mobile or tablet is running on because it will work on mobile, tablet and desktop, responsive websites are also SEO friendly.

Some of the advantages of Responsive Web Design are:

– In a Browser (No need to download anything)

–  Single coded website– built once, runs across all devices

–  Renders across any screen size – one can view the internet on 20′′ monitors, 15′′ laptops, 10′′ netbooks, 7′′ tablets, 3′′ smartphones and every size between. It also considers the huge difference in widths and heights, whether the screen is landscape or portrait, and screen resolution.

–  Improves SEO – a single version of the website improves page ranking. Issues have arisen in which having two versions of a site (website and mobile site) impact page ranking.

–  Reduces maintenance cost and effort due to single link.

–  Provides control and flexibility – changes can be made at one centralized place. You do not need to contact multiple vendors to make changes when your mobile site/ mobile application is built by different development companies.

-Ongoing Maintenance – Lower maintenance cost, single version to maintain for the whole website

Some of the disadvantages of Responsive Web Design are:

-It takes more time and cost to design a responsive website than normal website

-User experience – Navigation and layout

Native apps(normal apps) are good and very useful, they are user friendly, very easy to use. But you will need to design each app for different platforms like Apple, Android, Windows and Blackberry.

Some of the advantages of Native Apps are:

-Performance – fast, easy to use

-No need for a browser

Some of the disadvantages of Native Apps are:

-Some apps do not work offline

-More time and cost consuming to make the app for each platform

-Some apps do not work the same on different devices and platforms e.g. a app on apple might be different on the android or one app will work on the iPhone but will not work the same on the iPad.

-Apps need to be updated continuously so that you keep your customers or they will go and there is always another app out there that will do the same.

-Continuously testing the apps to make sure they work across all the platforms and making sure they are free from bugs.

-Putting your app out there is a big challenge to get your app at the top and apple could deny your app when  you submit to apple after you have spent all the time and cost on it

-Apple has very strict rules on apps, if you don’t do what they say your app is out!

"Mobile Web App development is an increasingly popular field of mobile development. Unlike native apps which are downloaded to a device, web apps run in-browser."

"Many mobile users are still unsure about privacy & security issues when downloading apps onto their phones and prefer to browse the web. Developing a web app means that you can provide users with the same content as a native app without them having to download anything."

"Web apps are not covered by Apple & Google’s app store policies and they don’t receive any of your money, so this is an attractive prospect when developing apps as you have more freedom and keep all the profit."

"Many developers have also grown tired of trying to get make their apps visible in the app stores – a feat that is covered on our app courses."

Some of the advantages of Mobile Web Apps are:

-Web Apps run in-browser

-Same features and design as native apps without downloading anything

-No need to put them on the different app stores

-No Google or Apple rules

-No need to try to get you app at the top because it s a web app

-Uses HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript

-Not to much time and cost consuming

Some of the disadvantages of Mobile Web Apps are:

-On android devices there is not much functionality as there is in Apple devises

-Speed could be an issue

-Does not work offline

conclusion

I have found out that Responsive Websites can’t do the same elements as you could with a Native App, when you design and create a Responsive Website you make it for Desktop, Tablet and Smartphones and there are a lot of different screen sizes, so on certain screen sizes, you might lose some content because if you have a lot of information on a desktop website it’s ok but when you view it on a smartphone you might need to lose some content of that because the user will not want to scroll a lot to view the content so then this will be bad for user experiences.

Apps are very hard, very challenging and there is a lot of apps that do the same job and you have to work very hard to make your app popular and there is different app coding for different platforms, as a developer you will need to spend a lot of time to create a good app and the cost is very high, so these things make clients and developers to think again.

I have found out that you can make a “Web App”. Web App is based in browser it’s single coded using HTML5 CSS3 and JavaScript, there is no need to download the app because you just view it using your smartphone browser, its not very hard to create, time and cost are not high.

This research has made me to look into “Web Apps” to find out if they work the same on different browsers such as Safari, Firefox and Chrome etc. I would also test the Web Apps on some friends to see if they like using it and  if they can get around it easy.

“We recommend that you always have a mobile friendly site – whether that is a separate site or a responsive main site. At the minimum, this allows your customers to easily access and browse your site from mobile devices.“

“If you want to offer a different experience to your site then a mobile app is the way forward but as yet there is no clear winner between native and web apps.“

“The design of your website and mobile service should be based on your target audience. Building a site using either approach requires thorough planning and a good understanding of the user’s roadmap through the site on every type of device.”

“Therefore, if you want a solution that’s easy to maintain, makes use of existing skills and that you can control, then Responsive Web Design is the approach for you. If you want a high quality user experience, better performance, faster implementation and seamless transactions, then you should select Mobile Web App for your business.“

Research Project Artefact 2

Testing
For my second artefact I have chosen to test some apps and their websites physically on some of my family, friends and my neighbours on my street, I have had 25 responses.

I have chosen these seven apps because they also have a responsive website, another reason why I have chosen these apps because from my first artefact I had a lot of responses from these types’ of apps.

•These are the apps that I will be testing.

•BBC News

•Starbucks

•Pinterest

•Flicker

•Instagram

•Facebook

•Twitter

• I asked the people to compare the Apps against the websites.

• The question I asked them were:

• Which one is easy to use?

• Do you find the navigation menu easy?

• Can you find your way around?

• Which one will you prefer to use?

• The devices I used for the test were a Apple iPhone and a Android tablet.

For BBC NEWS I got very good positive feedback for the App and the website, people were happy with the app and the website.

One thing that was pointed out a lot about the app was that its to boring and not as much as interesting as the website, but that was only on the Android App. However, they were happy with the iPhone App.

I was amazed that people liked both of them I thought that they will like only one of them, I also tested it myself and I did not find something different between them too.

Starbucks App was not very easy to use on the iPhone, as you went to the App it was too boring and when you select the drinks it gives you a lot of drinks and it was not appealing or interesting, people said its too boring because its got too much text.

On the android table the app was not working, when I went on to the android App market it said, “Your Device isn’t compatible with this version”.

People liked to use the website both on the iPhone and Android tablet, they find it a lot easier to get around the website and they said the navigation was very easy to use and understand.

These responses show me that both on the iPhone and the Android tablet the App is not very good and useful, this shows the website is better than the app, I believe that Starbucks have gave more attention to their website than their App.

For Pinterest I had very similar positive answers for both the App and the website. People were happy with using the app and the website and they could navigate around it easy on both. No negative points were pointed out.

The feedbacks I got for Flicker were positive, the people were happy using the App and the website on both platforms, there wasn’t much different between the Apps and the websites.

But a lot of more people liked the iPhone app than the Android App, they said its more easier to use, has a more easier interface and they can also take photos and upload it straight away like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter etc.

For Instagram I got both negative and positive things pointed out, everyone was happy with using the App on the iPhone and Android Tablet, they were saying its very easy to use and to navigate around.

The website on the iPhone was good as well but not as good as the App, people said that they would not mind using it than the App but one thing was pointed out a lot that on the website you could not take the photo and upload it straight away.

The website on the tablet was very bad you could not do anything, you could only see what your friends photos, you could not even go to your own profile.

For Facebook I had very good positive feedback, everyone was happy with using both App and the website both on the iPhone and the Android Table, people found to use both platforms very easy. No negative points were made.

For Twitter I got very good positive feedbacks for both the App and the website, everything was the same on both platforms the iPhone and the Android tablet. Everything was easy to use and you could navigate around easily.

Conclusion

After doing my second artefact, it shows me that there isn’t much of a difference between the App and the website and the different platforms of operating systems. Comparing Apple IOS to Android IOS there is a little bit difference between them, most of the Apple Apps are better than the Android Apps, comparing an iPhone App design to an Android App there is a massive difference between them, the iPhone App design looks better.

For example the “Starbucks” app is working on the iPhone but on the Android its say’s “Your Device isn’t compatible with this version”, so this doesn’t make an sense; why would you have an App working on iPhone but not working on android? Or why would you even have App on the App store that would not work?

I have come to a decision that I believe the website would be better to have, because if you are making an App for both platforms I think it wont look the same on both platforms as I have found out in my experiments.

I believe that if you make a really high standard responsive website it would be better than the app as I have found, for example the “Pinterest” App you can’t tell the difference between the App or the responsive website.

When you have downloaded an App it uses space and if you don’t have no internet connection it will not work, for the website you don’t need any space because its on the web but also if you don’t have internet connection it will not work, but on the iPhone for example you can add a webpage to view or read offline which means you can view a page or something when you have no internet connection.