Is it a good idea to use ionic to build mobile web

Question

I work for a Startup, we decide to have an adaptive website rather than a responsive one, so we basically serve different views for different devices, so that we provide the best experience for both ends [mobile,desktop], we are about to rebuild our mobile website, and since i have this privilege i'm trying to figure out what is the best Framework to use, one good choice is http://mobileangularui.com/, the other choice is http://ionicframework.com/, i know ionic is used more to build html5 mobile apps, so i was wondering if it will make sense to use it for the web version as well, what do you think?

Answer 1

I'm working on an ionic app and following are my thoughts, I personally think its not a good idea to use ionicframework for your web app.

1) AFAIK ionic doesnt have a web server, and its testing server uses UIWebview and will not allow for POST requests.

2 )ionic is more optimized for app development. What I mean by that is , there is this really cool repository called ngCordova which will allows you to use native plugins like camera, which you cannnot use in the web app

So having said that, for hybrid mobile application development I highly recommand it :)

HTH

Answer 2

I am working on a similiar project that needs a mobile webiste and native apps are a nice to have. I have chosen the Ionic framework. Let me explain the reasons:

What it takes to build a mobile website is a style framework, such as Bootstrap or Google's Web Starter Kit. The latter has drawbacks, because styling of some important elements like forms is still missing.

Bootstrap is also a convenient way to go. Though we've seen so many of such sites, eyes getting tired.

I personally have chosen Ionic since it has a truly mobile first experience, meaning do not use it for your desktop. But sites in mobile browser will look more like apps than just a mobile version of your desktopt site.

If mobile conversion is of importance to you, such as in ecommerce, I'd definetely recommend using Ionic. It has a fresh look and is damn fast. As said a nice feature on top is having at minimum costs a native app.

By the way: I do not see a must in using Cordova. Though you could still cherry pick some of their features for your native app and leave mobile site plain vanilla.