A quick review of Sencha Touch or Jquery Mobile

[RDesignista]

Hi everyone,

Anyone ever try making apps using frameworks based on web languages (Sencha Touch, Jquery Mobile, Phone gap)?

Why use app frameworks based on web languages
When I first heard of making apps with web languages earlier this year, I was ecstatic because I knew that the time needed to learn Xcode or whatever programming language would be a lot and furthermore, it wouldn't really immediately benefit my own web design services and abilities. So, having Sencha or Jquerymobile would really help me transition with my already decent web language skillset.

My try at it
Last month, I decided to make a presentation-type iPad app for a friend. I personally just wanted to expand my range of skill and to grow myself a bit. I started off with Sencha Touch. It's free and there's documentation. I ended up not being able to do much because there was a heavy, heavy emphasis on javascript and the file structure was hard for me to understand. So I said F*** and then I decided to use Jquery mobile.

Jquery Mobile was much easier for a strong HTML coder like myself. All I had to do was include a couple of files off their CDN, create a <ul>, and then have my <li>s be the slides of the presentation. All this in one html file. The navigation and menu were added later. The documentation was fairly easy to understand. Much easier than Sencha.

You can take a look at my test app (though I might take it down later after I submit my final design). It's swipe and touch ready. It's primarily for 1024x768 tablets like the iPad, but I structured it in a way so that it will adjust to the viewport (though no guarantee of it looking proper).

http://ronswebsite.com/mlb


What next?
Although I'd love to get to know Sencha, I realize that it's just a bit out of my grasp at the moment because I am weak with object oriented programming and javascript in general. I'll probably keep experimented with Jquery Mobile and start developing a portfolio of apps.

I'm not sure how I'll market it and I'm not sure what the market is for iPad apps or presentation apps, but whatever the case is, this makes a decent portfolio addition and a nice change of pace.