Isn’t the web enough?

This is a question I have had bouncing around my brain for a few weeks now.

It first came to mind in a discussion with a friend about eBooks. In many ways, despite the wealth of new directions, innovations, and opportunities eBooks (and ePublishing in general) can provide, most eBooks resemble in look and action the constraints of their analog counterparts. And, while there are some outstanding examples of a few eBooks attempting to expand the boundaries, these are drops of exception in an ocean of rules. Furthermore, to execute these ideas, these innovative ePublications have relied on or have themselves been self contained apps. Why? Why an app? It seems to me that not only can web standards, executed well, provide similar functionality for breaking through the limits of eBook publishing but also that the ease, flexibility, and opportunity for publisher and reader is even more so. Versions and edits could be updated immediately. One could have flexibility with fonts and graphics. One could have interactive fiction and information rich non-fiction. Everything one needs to execute these ideas are right there already in HTML and CSS.

Then, it came to me again the other day in conversation with someone who was bemoaning that there was no official Facebook app for the iPad. It is not the first time I have heard this lamentation. While I can certainly see the value an app would provide, part of which is a device tailored experience and controls specifically designed for touch, what I don’t understand is why Facebook should not instead design a device responsive design for the browser using modern web standards? The Facebook site already works well enough in Mobile Safari on the iPad. Why not simply improve upon that? If Facebook detects a mobile browser, push mobile centric layout and controls. Facebook could fix bugs, add new features, and make such changes one place and people using any browser would have it immediately. Update and deploy everywhere. Would this not be a better, more sustainable, and more flexible long term solution for Facebook and the people that use it?

One can easily see how such an idea can work well for both of the cases above in the new design of The Boston Globe website. A wonderful and reader friendly design that adapts on the fly to any browser size or type. Load it in Mobile Safari on iPhone and it is perfect for that screen. Load it on the iPad and it is perfect there too. Load it on the desktop. Boom! Resize the browser on the desktop and the site reflows and adjusts for the space. It’s perfect and people friendly for every browser no matter the browser and every size no matter the screen. No app. Just web. It’s free to everyone for the first thirty days and I urge you to check it out. After that, one must subscribe. If I lived in Boston it would be an easy decision, it is worth every penny.

Yet, it seems, both users and developers increasingly jump to making “an app for that” before even considering if the web could provide a better experience for both ends. When did the web stop being good enough? I would argue not only can it be but in some cases it is.

Far too often we think that innovation must come only with new tools. Instead, first consider the innovative ways to use the tools we already have. We may find that not only is this enough but in some ways may be better.

Just some food for thought.