Getting HTML5 going

[Richard Gaskin]

William Prothero wrote:

 > I’m back working on an educational app teaching plate tectonics.
 > When I think of pitfalls of distributing an actual app, I fondly
 > look at web distribution, like I used to be able to do with Director
 > in shockwave.

Shockwave made many things about deployment simpler, but still required 
a one-time download and install.

We can do this with LC so very easily, I'm surprised more people don't 
take advantage of it.

I'm with you: deploying standalones for every little change is a 
time-eating drag.  So I stopped doing it years ago.

The standalones I deliver download updates from my server, so just like 
in a browser the user always has not only the latest data, but also the 
latest UI and underlying code.

Sure, this means the user has a one-time download.  But it's only one 
time, and they get a fully native app experience, with OS integration 
far beyond the limitations of a browser, and a UI completely dedicated 
to the app's task.

I've had apps in the field for many years where I've delivered several 
dozen upgrades without ever needing to update the standalone, all with 
downloaded stack files.

I like browsers for many things, and for content-driven works it's my 
first choice (mostly for strategy reasons rather than techincal).  But 
for serious work I prefer a dedicated native app.  My customers tell me 
they do too, and I've heard that from other devs about their customer 
feedback.

No one wants the endless tedium of updating standalones, neither the 
user or us developers.  But by decoupling the standalone from the stack 
files it uses, we can update those so quickly and easily the user never 
even needs to know it's happening.

Have you considered a standalone that updates its stack files via HTTP?

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Systems
  Software Design and Development for the Desktop, Mobile, and the Web
  ____________________________________________________________________
  Ambassador at FourthWorld.com                http://www.FourthWorld.com