The web, and native apps debate rages. But can’t we all just get along?

From the 37signals blog:

Some of my favorite feedback on Basecamp for iPhone has been that the app feels wicked fast, and all native. The app actually is a mix of web and native UI, but it’s difficult to see where the line is drawn. The majority of the content shown in the app is web: From the login screen, to posting a message, and even uploading photos on a comment, that’s all done using UIWebView.

I like their balanced approach. We are in a huge transition period (aren’t we always?), with the web trying to catch up with native applications on mobile. With 37signals’ app, here’s where the line is:

Where’s the line?

The line between native and web inside of the app is kind of blurry, but there’s a simple rule I’ve used: All content inside of projects are rendered by web views, and everything else is native.

An interesting approach, and a good read if you’re a frontend engineer thinking about mobile web vs. native mobile apps. I feel like Gmails native iPhone app, is a hybrid as well. A lot of companies are going with these hybrid approaches.