I get that many could be static pages, but you’re comparing web vs desktop. And in that case, I prefer web most of the time. Why? It works the same everywhere, and I can probably access it just fine on my phone without having to get their mobile app, which probably has fewer features and more telemetry.
Web doesn’t make sense for everything, but it’s far better than desktop apps for relatively simple use cases. If the app isn’t performance sensitive and doesn’t need to store a ton of data, web is my preferred platform, especially since I’m a Linux user and would likely need to run the app through WINE instead.
Not desktop. Native. You can build native apps for smartphones and pretty much anything. Web comes into play when you decide you won’t build native version of what you want. In some cases that is guided by thoughts like “I know web will fit this project. I know the platform and will remember to keep memory and internet usage low”, but in most cases it’s about “no idea what that startup is about, but I know some AngularJS and they said I can use AWS so that’ll do”.
Similar thing is happening now with Unreal Engine 5. The difference between devs and webdevs became very similar to the difference between coding and vibe coding.
and doesn’t need to store a ton of data
I know by data you mean “data I care about as a dev” but that should also include data that is actually processed and saved on user’s device. And webapps are notoriously bad at keeping their caches and data usage low.
What’s wrong with webapps?
I get that many could be static pages, but you’re comparing web vs desktop. And in that case, I prefer web most of the time. Why? It works the same everywhere, and I can probably access it just fine on my phone without having to get their mobile app, which probably has fewer features and more telemetry.
Web doesn’t make sense for everything, but it’s far better than desktop apps for relatively simple use cases. If the app isn’t performance sensitive and doesn’t need to store a ton of data, web is my preferred platform, especially since I’m a Linux user and would likely need to run the app through WINE instead.
Not desktop. Native. You can build native apps for smartphones and pretty much anything. Web comes into play when you decide you won’t build native version of what you want. In some cases that is guided by thoughts like “I know web will fit this project. I know the platform and will remember to keep memory and internet usage low”, but in most cases it’s about “no idea what that startup is about, but I know some AngularJS and they said I can use AWS so that’ll do”.
Similar thing is happening now with Unreal Engine 5. The difference between devs and webdevs became very similar to the difference between coding and vibe coding.
I know by data you mean “data I care about as a dev” but that should also include data that is actually processed and saved on user’s device. And webapps are notoriously bad at keeping their caches and data usage low.