With many development tools in the offing, developers are also trying to take advantage of their current skill-sets by leveraging HTML, CSS and JavaScript during the coding process.
Some even use actual programming languages such as C or C++ for creating mobile applications.
Native apps highlight the native features of mobile devices including the GPS, camera, contacts, accelerometer and the like.
Mobile Web App Development Tools PhoneGap is a popular framework for developing cross-platform mobile apps with the help of HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
The apps are made to make the best use of core features of the iOS, Android, Symbian and Blackberry platforms including geo-location, accelerometer, and other effects.
PhoneGap helps create apps specific to a platform.
The use of PhoneGap is popular when one needs to create apps for multiple platforms, while one can compile each app for the particular platform, even though basic coding standards are same for each platform.
Some cross-platform tools including Rhodes, which allow developers to develop native apps for all mobile platforms.
One will have to compile the code for each of the platforms separately.
Since the tool supports native features, it is an effective tool of app development.
Rhodes is available for free under the MIT License.
Cloud computing vendors on the other hand, like RhoHub help developers to create applications online without the need to install the latest SDK for each platform.
These apps are based on HTML and Ruby and functional through the cloud platform.
The Portable HTML5 Web Apps Recently developers have been keen to use application development using technologies which are compatible to all platforms.
iUI, a tool present in the iPhone User Interface Framework, makes use of JavaScript, HTML and CSS for developing web applications for multiple browsers.
Sencha Touch is a popular HTML5 Mobile App Framework, powered by HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript working with multiple platforms and HTML5-compliant web browsers.
The technology supports touch events including pinching and stretching too.
This is open-source software under the GNU GPL license v3.
Sencha includes a tutorial featuring geo-location using its API and Google Maps for user's location traceability.
The Google Chrome Web Store is a marketplace for web apps built with standard web technologies and can be accessed and used through a compatible web browser.
Web apps developed and available through the Chrome Web Store allows users to access them, through the web browser.
No approval process is required for developers to go through, and no fee is levied to submit an application.