I'm considering combining five "multi-page" documents into one. The pro is a more cohesive user experience. What are the cons?Here is the background:I'm using jquery mobile to develop an app that I intend to package with PhoneGap. It is a utility/calculator with five sections. Each section is an independent html document with two or more divs (pages). Singe-page templates are not possible, because I need to pass data between the pages. This is the flow:
first page, with form inputs. user fills out form and submitstransition to:
second page, which interprets the user's inputs.
link to the next section (repeat)There are five of these sections. Within a section, there are page transitions, and it looks nice. But, linking between sections, I have to do data-ajax="false" because I am linking to another multi-page document.
This means there are no transitions, and the screen goes blank for a moment.
Web users are likely to forgive the screen going blank while the next loads. However, I am planning to have this as an installed app with phoneGap. Native app users are less likely to forgive the screen going blank between sections.
I can have transitions if I combine all the sections into a single document. The jQuery Mobile documentation warns against this:
"Usually, it's a good idea to store your app's pages in several single-page templates instead of one large multi-page template. This minimizes the size of the page's DOM."
But I don't know what this means. I'm sure it's bad style, but would it affect performance -- and by how much? If it's not substantial, I will just merge the five pages.
Thanks in advance for you input.