Try an iPhone-optimized Web app: Simple Shopping List. (Best viewed with Safari.) | Hacker News Reader

Try an iPhone-optimized Web app: Simple Shopping List. (Best viewed with Safari.)

onetrip.org

6 pointstoffer9 comments

Ug, this is like the bad old days of 1995 when people made sites that said "Best Viewed with Netscape." I thought that was gone forever, along with splash pages and "under construction" gifs.

Safari is the same web browser that the iPhone uses. Because the site is optimized for the iPhone, it only needs to work on Safari.

Anyhow, I tried the app out, and I can't decide if it's really useful.

Why would you want to write an iPhone-only application, though? The only reason I can think of is to catch Mac Fanboys by the "teehee, my app is better than yours and you can't use it because you don't have an expensive Apple phone" method. OK, that might even work...

Really, it only needs to work on Safari? What if someone, say, posted it to a site that links to newly launched applications? Might it not then be convenient if the app worked for whatever browser the users following those links were using?

This site is designed for a touch screen system that lacks a keyboard. That is why it is pre-populated with a default set of items. On a device with a full keyboard, it would be faster to just type your list in.

I think it is pretty smart. I think I will try something similar in my mobile applications.

How many mobile phone web browsers support javascript?

If most mobile browsers' support for javascript is limited or nonexistent, then it makes sense to optimize for Safari, since iPhone users will be the only ones able to use it anyway.

They should be optimizing for Safari but making it work in all other web browsers. The whole point of using/making web apps is that they work on more than one platform and in more than one browser. I can't see a damned thing because I use Firefox.

But it's a mobile phone app...what mobile phone can run Firefox?

Can't anyone with enough money for an iphone just "send the help to pop 'round to the grocer's and fetch me a few things" ?

Kidding aside, I still think my shopping list app is better in that you don't use the phone to input the list:

http://shoplist.dedasys.com

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