I been working on my web app for more than a year and today I will like to show you the results. Also this is an oportunity to see the changes from JQM 1.1 to JQM 1.2 as we actually have 2 web apps ¨online¨, one that is stable , and one where we test and run new ideas and improvements.
The Jquery/JQM code takes 32K + 24K, for a total of 56K. Try to download these 2 files on a slow EDGE connection and you will see that is far from usable.
Even if you manage to download them quick, an Iphone 4S with its speedy processor takes over 2 seconds to parse the 2 files alone. I haven't done tests on Androids but I'm guessing most phones will take well over 3 seconds to parse.
We really need a tool like this: http://modernizr.com/download/ , that will lets us configure our build for better results. Maybe even integrating the Jquery code as part of it, so that only one file is needed.
Most people will wait a maximum of 3 seconds before they find a new way to get the information their looking for. If you measure the network times + the parsing times, the current JQM implementation is not achieving this even with a fast HSPA+ connection as parsing the JS code takes so long.
Will it be possible at some point to create a custom version of the JQM library/Jquery library so that the unused code is removed?
I been working very hard optimizing my app, and at this point my main obstacle is the size of the 2 files that even with gzip still are heavy for mobile networks.
I have only tested on an Iphone with IOS 5.1. Each time I switch to another app, when I return to my JQM web app (created with a launcher icon), it remains white for a few seconds and then reloads the page. Is there a way to prevent this? I know the device is got enough free ram to keep the app open, and there is not need to reload from the internet each time.
This only happens for the web app started from the launcher icon. In the browser I can switch back to the page and it works fine.
What do I need to change in the code so that instead of having the file Loader.gif JQM uses a URI stored in CSS? I dont see the reason for an extra file besides making it easy for the users to update it.