The folks over at AppGyver have released a new product that lets you build apps based on the popular PhoneGap library without needing to do alot of heavy lifting in the code. It's called 'Steriods'. It's a fresh approach to an age-old problem, how to create an app that has a unique feature set without having to learn to program every line of code, Steriods lets you do that.
“We’ve taken the feedback developers have had regarding PhoneGap, and we are fixing what is broken, nearly point by point. Steroids Toolbelt is the first stage of that, resolving many of the primary developer issues with PhoneGap' says AppGyver CEO and founder Marko Lehtimaki.
Here is a list of issues that are wrong with PhoneGap development currently, that AppGyver is committed to fixing.
- The complexity of Ad-Hoc distirbution process with provisioning profiles
- Native SDK (PhoneGap Plugin) dependencies
- Xcode and Eclipse required for development
- Xcode proj management
- Build and distribution
- Building apps for distribution should be easier and smoother. Adobe (PhoneGap Build) partially solves this, but it doesn't include custom PhoneGap Plugins, which are important.
- Limited amount of Ad-Hoc distribution devices on iOS
- The limitation of max 100 devices is painful when developing for multiple clients
- Re-compilation time and process of development
- One shouldn't have to re-compile app every time the HTML5 project is changed
- Simultaneous multi-device development
- It should be easier to manage development for multiple devices simultaneously
- Manual Weinre implementation
- IP address, manual input of tags, halted app if tag left in code, etc.
- WebKit Cache (images, CSS, JavaScript)
- I should never be bothered with annoyances webkit caching my assets while developing
- Cannot develop iOS apps on Linux
- Testing with devices you don't have
- It should be easier to test your app with devices you don't own
- Better debugging
- Steroids has Weinre built-in. But debugging tools should be as powerful as in regular web development.
- Enabling popular 3rd party services should be easier
- It should be easier to enable services such as push notifications, social networking, crash reporting, performance and analytics
- Dependency management of JavaScript libraries
- Installation of tooling and getting started
- It should be way easier to get started with development
- Dependency of NPM, Git, GCC, etc. when using tooling
- It should be possible to develop hybrid apps with minimum requirements
- Require to pay Apple just to test out the development tools
- You shouldn't need a developer certificate to get your app running in your phone
- Cannot develop iOS apps on Windows
- Manual updating and maintenance of latest Cordova and libraries required
- App Store distribution required for even small HTML file changes
- It should be possible to make small updates to project without new App Store submission
- Platform specific Cordova.js required
- Platform specific JS libraries for plugins required
- File includes by platform
- No support for precompliation (CoffeeScript, SaSS..)
- Layouting
- Restarting of app that has been built requires killing of app
- When restarting app, WebView cache can't be removed without re-building
- Console.log applications can only be reviewed from computer and not from app itself
- Memory leaking and memory management
- Audio API
- The audio API in Cordova should be able to play multiple sounds faster
- Camera API
- The camera API in Cordova should be much more stable
- Can't use existing website codebase because of HTTP and localhost requirements vs. File protocol
- Application is in bundle (read-only) and editable files in Documents
- Before DOM is loaded, white background of webview is displayed, making applications look broken
Steriods is currently in private beta but they are accepting names on the list if you want to get in on the action.