Attaining Uniformity in User Interfaces across Mobile Platforms - A Developer's Perspective

Abstract

Mobile Application Development encompasses disparate facets such as architectural design, development and deployment, integration with existing web applications and business issues. Cross-platform mobile application development is one of the significant emerging areas in Mobile Application Development. Cross-platform technique can be approached by two ways: Cross-compilation for each mobile platform and porting a single code base to multiple platforms by leveraging platform oriented capabilities. Cross-compilation can have significant deployment implications, constraining functionality to be delivered through Application Programming Interfaces. Hybrid Mobile Application technique, written with web technologies, is one of the alternatives for porting an application to multiple platforms by utilizing the device’s browser engine. Even though applications are deployed across platforms using hybrid approach, user interfaces lack consistency across platforms. In order to provide unified user interfaces across platforms, this thesis work proposes a solution of a hybrid mobile application approach by combining two cross-platform mobile application frameworks. Issues and elucidations are technically delineated in developer’s perspective.