We make and sell a desktop application (Windows and macOS) for a niche
research market. I expect when Apple does their migration to a common
processor and OS, Apple Developer's will have to go through all of Apple
hoops for all their platforms.Most of our customer don't care about UI
widget animations. They want the app to do certain functions and do them
well and quickly to work with their data. As long as the UI is
effective, whether it conforms precisely to Microsoft or Apple UI
guidelines is secondary. So, even if you only care about desktops, your
app will have to be sold through Apple's single App Store, conform to
all screen sizes on all their devices, and follow all their UI
guidelines, etc.
At that point, given that Windows is 2/3rd of our market and macOS
1/3rd, we'll drop support for macOS sadly. I say sadly because our
application originated way back in the late 1980 as a HyperCard App for
MacOS.
But, to your point, your concern IS valid for those people wanting Apps
from you that they insist MUST conform to all of Apple's esoteric
requirements. It is likely it will become increasingly harder for the
LiveCode ideal of develop once and deploy everywhere.
On 6/23/2020 2:56 PM, Jim Lambert via use-livecode wrote:
This year’s WWDC shows Apple is moving to a unified ‘system' for all
their products: Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, AppleTV.
The Apple development environment promises to produce a single app
capable of running on all, or almost all, of Apple devices. This
unification promises to be quite convenient for Apple developers.
In contrast, over the last decade or so there has been an ever
increasing divergence in UX between major operating systems: Apple,
Windows, Linux, Android. The days when systems were so similar that you
could rely on the commonality of a handful of UI elements across platforms
seems over to me. That’s troubling because such commonality is fundamental
to LiveCode’s approach - write once, run everywhere.
In watching WWDC sessions it’s pretty clear that even simple UI elements
have become more like UX elements having intrinsic and complex properties,
such as certain visual and behavioral animations. Users readily learn to
expect these behaviors. Yet such things are increasing difficult to fake
with LiveCode’s basic palette of objects.
Enter LiveCode Builder and LC Widgets. They offer the promise of
platform-specific UI elements - a promise fulfilled with some simple
elements like iOS Native Button or Android Native Field. But I’m concerned
that as platforms diverge in the interface experiences they present to
users, that LC and LC developers will have difficulty satisfying users'
divergent expectations.
Is my concern valid?
Jim Lambert
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