Fast responding mobile applications

Though this is not an exhaustive list, the last key difference that we will discuss between traditional and mobile web development is performance.

Users expect mobile applications to be fast and responsive. Think about how people use their desktops or smartphones today. Gaming and social media are extremely popular. High performance is an expected factor. We will be discussing performance and best practices throughout the book

One area where mobile web is criticized when compared with native mobile development is in the area of performance. Extra effort and attention is needed during mobile web development to optimize performance. This is also true for native apps and backend services.

Network issues potentially plague all mobile applications. Lack of or poor Wi-Fi connectivity can cause any mobile application to be either slow or unusable. Though beyond the scope of this book, advances in offline or disconnected ArcGIS mobile web application are helping to reduce the impact of network issues.