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Web Mindset
There’s a common complaint about apps on mobile platforms (namely iOS and Android): you have to download an app. This has led to calls for websites to stop pushing their app equivalent and just let people browse. (We’re looking at you, newspapers.) Why pull a beefy application every month or so when you can just pull the UI, content, and behaviour all at once, on demand, when you need it?
This observation is correct, and, I think, not the main reason why the web’s usability will always triumph over apps.
When I need to do something on my phone, I first think, “which app do I need to use?” For example, when I need to get directions to a restaurant, Food Place (I miss restaurants; they were lovely), I first open the Ostentatious Maps application, and then I start to search.
Doing the same thing on my computer, the app question is already answered. It’s the web browser. It’s always the web browser. (Alright, not always… sometimes it’s the terminal.) So the first question becomes, “where do I navigate to?” And then I open https://ostentatious.maps/, which is the same Ostentatious Maps application, except it’s in a browser tab.
These are the same thing, right!?
We are not the same
The app and the tab might look the same (assuming you ignore that fucking cookie “consent” notice), but they represent very different ways of thinking.
Let’s take this example a step further. I’ve found the restaurant but I want to check my reservation time. On a mobile device, I first open the Superchill Email app, and then search for “Food Place”. On my computer, I open a new tab and head to https://superchill.email/.
While I’m searching, I remember that my friend Susan recommended a specific dish, again, over email. On the mobile device, I go back and search for “Susan” instead. On the browser… I open a new tab, and conduct the search in parallel. It was baked cheese. Susan knows me well.
Here’s where they diverge. In the browser, I can use the same application twice. It doesn’t need to do anything special; it’s just a new tab.
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