Questions About Building Hybrid Apps

1

Hello,

Just a few days ago I started researching hybrid app development and came across ionic. It seems to be a great tool, but I guess I just don’t fully understand how hybrid app development works (I’m very new to development in general) and what all of my options are. Below are a few questions I have.

1. So lets say I want to create a media sharing service similar to YouTube or Instagram (and yes, I imagine this is a pretty complex vision for a beginner). Where exactly would I start? I assume you would learn HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript to build the website, and then use ionic to wrap it into native-like apps for different platforms? But I’ve heard people say that HTML is better for static websites that don’t change content much while WordPress would be much better for this sort of thing.

2. What would be the best framework for what I described above? I assume ionic would be able to handle this, but Famo.us apparently handles animations and dynamic content better.

3. How does developing a hybrid app soley with ionic differ from using an app making platform such as Appery.io? Appery seems like it’s a lot easier to use than just ionic, but do platforms like this have a lot of limitations compared to HTML frameworks? And I am aware that Appery comes with ionic built in, but I would probably use a different platform due to how expensive Appery is - I was just using it as an example.

4. Do I even need to build a website before using ionic, or do I use ionic to build the website?

5. Is there a difference between the ionic framework and the ionic SDK, as there are two different websites?

6. On the ionic documentation overview page, I see there is an option to download ionic, yet everything else I’ve seen says to install Node.js and use commands to download ionic with Cordova. Or are both options basically the same with the download option making you have to place the files in the required locations manually? I already installed Node.js, and ionic with Cordova using commands by the way, just wondering if there is an important difference.

I know that’s a lot to answer and I may seem like I didn’t quite pass evolution ( :stuck_out_tongue: ), but I guess I get a little lost when it seems like there are so many options out there and you’re not sure which to choose and why.

Anyways, thanks!

  • Novian
2

@ModernGlitch

One: So lets say I want to create a media sharing service similar to YouTube or Instagram (and yes, I imagine this is a pretty complex vision for a beginner). Where exactly would I start? I assume you would learn HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript to build the website, and then use ionic to wrap it into native-like apps for different platforms? But I’ve heard people say that HTML is better for static websites that don’t change content much while WordPress would be much better for this sort of thing.

Start with a book:

  • Developing an Ionic Edge
  • Ionic in Action

Look at the sample code:

Two: What would be the best framework for what I described above? I assume ionic would be able to handle this, but Famo.us apparently handles animations and dynamic content better.

Learn one, then the other, then decide which one you prefer.

Three: How does developing a hybrid app soley with ionic differ from using an app making platform such as Appery.io? Appery seems like it’s a lot easier to use than just ionic, but do platforms like this have a lot of limitations compared to HTML frameworks? And I am aware that Appery comes with ionic built in, but I would probably use a different platform due to how expensive Appery is - I was just using it as an example.

Build your App (the client) using the Ionic framework.

Build your API (the server) using Swagger or use Parse, …

Four: Do I even need to build a website before using ionic, or do I use ionic to build the website?

See the answer to question one.

Five: Is there a difference between the ionic framework and the ionic SDK, as there are two different websites?

See the answer to question one.

Six: On the ionic documentation overview page, I see there is an option to download ionic, yet everything else I’ve seen says to install Node.js and use commands to download ionic with Cordova. Or are both options basically the same with the download option making you have to place the files in the required locations manually? I already installed Node.js, and ionic with Cordova using commands by the way, just wondering if there is an important difference.

See the answer to question one.

Ref: http://robferguson.org/2015/07/06/ionic-angular-and-cordova/

3

Thank you for your suggestions. I’ve done a lot of research over the past few hours, and I’ve decided to stick with Ionic as the client and use Firebase as the server. One question I still have, however, (and you might not be able to answer this) is what languages and other frameworks do I need to learn to use Ionic and Firebase? It seems like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are the way to go, but I keep seeing people mention AngularJS. Since both Ionic and Firebase are basically built on AngularJS, does this mean that I only need to learn JavaScript and Angular, or do I still need to learn HTML and CSS?

Thanks.

4

@ModernGlitch

-> Thank you for your suggestions.

Your welcome.

-> I’ve done a lot of research over the past few hours, and I’ve decided to stick with Ionic as the client and use Firebase as the server.

OK.

-> One question I still have, however, (and you might not be able to answer this) is what languages and other frameworks do I need to learn to use Ionic and Firebase? It seems like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are the way to go, but I keep seeing people mention AngularJS. Since both Ionic and Firebase are basically built on AngularJS, does this mean that I only need to learn JavaScript and Angular, or do I still need to learn HTML and CSS?

“Ionic combines AngularJS, bespoke user interface components and Cordova to help developers build hybrid mobile applications.”

Ref: http://robferguson.org/2015/07/06/ionic-angular-and-cordova/

Starting out you will need to learn to program in Javascript and to understand AngularJS and the Ionic framework. You will also need to understand HTML and develop a basic understanding of CSS in order to create your Hybrid Mobile apps view templates.

As you progress you will also need to learn about: Cordova, plugins, npm, bower, Yeoman, grunt or gulp, Sass, …

Download the free chapter from ‘Ionic in Action’: http://www.manning.com/wilken/IonicinA_MEAP_ch01.pdf