Create rich, web-based apps for iOS.
Web apps are a category of mobile applications that are opening up a world of possibilities for enterprise. Web apps are custom designed web pages that take advantage of advanced HTML, CSS and JavaScript to deliver an immersive app experience to iOS users. And because youʼll be building apps with all the HTML methods you already know, you can develop web apps in any layout or HTML editing environment. Simply hosting a webpage is all that is required to deploy a web app, and changes or updates can all be managed from the web server. And with home screen app icons, offline data availability, and the ability to launch web apps in full screen mode your users will feel completely at home in your web app and focused on the task at hand.
Integrating Web Content into Native Apps
With the iOS SDK, you can display web content within an iOS application using an element called UIWebView. Doing so allows you to leverage your existing HTML, CSS and JavaScript inside a native app, while gaining access to iOS SDK-only features such as Push Notifications, Contacts integration, the built-in camera, and more. As a benefit, you can deploy new UI enhancements to your application with adjustments to your web server without having to redeploy the application itself. Leveraging web content in your native app is also a great way to ramp up on native development without having to scale back or discard your existing web development investments.
HTML5
HTML5 is the latest specification of HTML, the primary standard that determines how web content interacts with modern browsers. "HTML5" has also become widely used as a term that describes the set of technologies used to create modern web applications — this set of technologies includes HTML5, CSS3, and ongoing enhancements to JavaScript. Safari was the first browser to support things like HTML5 audio and video tags and CSS animations. HTML5 allows developers to provide rich interactivity for web apps.
See what HTML5 can do
CSS3
CSS3 animations and visual effects allow you to create sophisticated graphical user interfaces for web apps. The visual effects available range from gradients, masks, and reflections, to more complex 2D and 3D effects. When you combine these visual effects with touch events, you can create web apps that interact much like native apps.
Learn more about developing with CSS
Webkit
WebKit is an open source web browser engine. Powering Safari on iPhone and iPad, WebKit simplifies web development and accelerates innovation. An open source toolset, WebKit is free for anyone to use, and provides the HTML engine for web apps on iPhone and iPad.
Learn more about WebKit
Dashcode
Dashcode is included in the iOS SDK. Dashcodeʼs integrated environment allows you to layout, code, and even test web applications. Dashcode also provides handy templates to help you bring your web app to life.
Learn more about Dashcode
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Safari
Safari 5 for Mac and Windows includes a powerful set of tools that make it easy to debug, tweak, and optimize a website for peak performance and compatibility. To access them turn on the Develop menu in Safari preferences.
Learn more about Safari development tools
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