> I worry "works on Chrome" will be the only thing that gets solved for
Firefox is my daily driver, and I use their WebKit wrapper on iOS, and I have to agree. I'm not looking forward to a Blink monopoly in the browser space. The upshot is that we might have closer-to-native experiences for websites on iOS.
> closer-to-native experiences for websites on iOS.
What is native? If a website is explicitly testing for Firefox compatibility, they're probably also testing for Safari compatibility due to its increased market share.
It's not so much Safari compatibility, but WebKit compatibility. Anyone who wants their website to work on iOS has to test against mobile WebKit, regardless if their target users are on Chrome or Firefox. If these legislative changes go into effect, Webkit market penetration will plummet quickly to only those using Safari, and Apple will have less leverage to hold back on features that don't suit their App Store profits.
I know a fair few solo developers that don't test Safari compatibility because they don't own Apple hardware. And Safari only runs on Apple hardware (with the exception of Hackintosh).
> The upshot is that we might have closer-to-native experiences for websites on iOS
Strange. Android is 70% market share. Chrome is something like 80% market share (all playforms). Where are these glorious "closer to native web apps" we keep hearing about?
I specified on iOS. It would at least be possible on iOS if other renderers could be used, and both Firefox and Google would certainly have their own incentive to make this happen. Google don't want to undermine the Play Store, but they might want to undermine the App Store. Firefox have existential reasons for product differentiation, though web apps won't get traction without broader support by all players.
The parent was clearly alluding to “closer-to-native experiences” on Android. If Chrome will bring that to iOS, there should already be examples on Android.
Google don't want to undermine the Play Store, but they might want to undermine the App Store.
I’ll buy that, but it doesn’t seem like a reason to be optimistic about the way things might go.
> If Chrome will bring that to iOS, there should already be examples on Android.
I think I illustrated that the incentives are different
> doesn’t seem like a reason to be optimistic
I did say "we might have closer-to-native experiences for websites on iOS" (emphasis added) in my OP. Only because it would become possible, not because it would be likely
Better integration with OS features on iOS devices is still an upshot for people who want websites to do more useful things with their phones, if that becomes a possibility. Might not balance out the cost of having a browser hegemony, and it might not be something that’s specifically useful or interesting to you, but a small mercy nonetheless
> Better integration with OS features on iOS devices is still an upshot for people who want websites to do more useful things with their phones, if that becomes a possibility.
Again. "If", and "might help", and something else.
Question is: you have Android with 70% market share and all those capabilities you so crave for. Have all these nice hypotheticals happened there, or not?
I think we need all the things you mention in that comment, and much, if not all, are dependent on the rendering engine internals to implement. e.g., Firefox iOS couldn’t fix it without changes to WebKit
It just might not be worth doing until browser vendors have a consistent renderer across all platforms (true for Firefox and Chrome) and until Apple loses its leverage. It might also be that it requires coordination and cooperation across all browser vendors to a degree that is unlikely. I’m not privy to the internal politics, so I don’t know which is the case
You seem very animated about some aside I made in my OP comment, that was obviously made as a speculation. Not sure why. We're both speculating FWIW, so there's no real argument to 'win' here, not even a wager I'd consider making.
Indeed it was speculation. So I asked you basically what your speculation was based on. Because we have a platform where no such speculation is necessary: Android is the dominant mobile platform, it already has all the capabilities you speculate about and so on.
So, given that Android exists, and we see literally nothing come out of it as far as web apps are concerned, what are basing your speculations on?
So many words to avoid the hard truth: web apps suck, and "we might have closer-to-native experiences" is bullshit. Because, see my comment on Android which already supposedly has these "close to native experiences".
Firefox is my daily driver, and I use their WebKit wrapper on iOS, and I have to agree. I'm not looking forward to a Blink monopoly in the browser space. The upshot is that we might have closer-to-native experiences for websites on iOS.