Creating Hybrid Mobile Applications with HTML, CSS, Javascript & PHP
I recently started looking around at different hybrid mobile frameworks, so I can create native iPhone Apps using web languages I already know (ie. HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP). There are three main ones I took a look at and did some testing with: QuickConnect, PhoneGap, and Appcelerator Titanium. In all my testing I looked specifically at uses for the iPhone. All of these have a lot of the same functionality like GPS, Accelerometer, Vibrate, System Sounds, etc and they are all FREE.
QuickConnect can create iPhone, Android, and Blackberry mobile apps. I love the installation of this development tool, its extremely easy. All you have to do is open the package, which will install a dashboard template, and the xcode template. you basically use Dashcode as you GUI tool for layout and use paths to your javascript and images. One suggestion is not to separate them into different folders, it makes things less organized, but when you deploy to xcode you need to strip all the file paths out anyways so you'll save yourself some time here. I can't really find any examples of using js libraries online, most examples you straight js but after some testing you can use jQuery and jqTouch (as well as others too like prototype, YUI, etc.). When you deploy to Xcode, you can then install it on your iPhone or run it in the iPhone simulator to see the result. It's important to note Xcode acts as the wrapper and saves all your source code to disk which makes it a true native app. The only calls that go out to your server would Ajax calls to a server-side language like PHP. Some features QC has that the others don't is a charting, the ability to embed google maps, cable networking, Bonjour networking and a drag & drop library. The documentation is a little lacking right now but it seems like its getting better, and the install does come with some examples to get you started.
PhoneGap can create iPhone, Android, Palm OS, Symbian, and Blackberry apps. This installation is a little more difficult using git, and it doesn't have a Dashcode template in the installation. PhoneGap seems to be a little more popular then the rest though, and has a fairly large community. One major difference is that all your CSS, JS and images are actually stored on your server, which makes this technically more of a mobile web app, with native functionality. PhoneGap has workshops and great documentation. It also supports most js libraries. PhoneGap has limited functionality compared with QuickConnect, but if your looking to take your app truly cross mobile platform it excels in that area.
Lastly is Appcelerator Titanium, which can create iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, and I've heard coming soon should be the Palm OS. This is the only tool that has its own developer tools. Also the only one that supports the iPad. I feel like this has the best documentation, it's very clear in each of it's steps. Also they have a video channel to help you get started. They have workshops and a university, which they will give you all the information you need to present to a class or user group you even get t-shirts, which I thought was pretty cool. The installation is probably the easiest of all too, just download their software and install whichever mobile SDK you plan on outputting your app to. It has many different APIs you mash with, and seems they use the js library Entourage.
In my upcoming project I'll most likely be using QuickConnect, because of it's robust features specifically for the the iPhone. However if I was going to release a cross mobile app I would probably use PhoneGap, with Appcelerator as a close second. I'll try post more as I dive further into these, but until then I hope this gives you a little more insight on what's out there.
UPDATE 7.7.2010
Another great place for tutorials on Appcelerator is Mobiletuts+.
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