what is difference between phone gap and mobile web site?

Question

I am new to phone gap. I want know what is difference between phone gap and mobile web site. I have goggled for this, But i did not find any proper solution. Can any explain this or provide some document.

Answer 1

@axis does point out a viable third option I'm sure you've already considered, and if you're capable, I would recommend writing native apps in most situations. However; If you wanted to reach the maximum number of customers with your app using this approach you have the burden of having to know/learn different languages for different devices. This makes HTML/CSS/Javascript very inviting, especially when these three are the most commonly used technologies on the web today.

So, getting back to the question:

Phonegap and Mobile Websites:

• Both use HTML/CSS/Javascript
• Both can be optimized for mobile devices with frameworks like JQuery Mobile or Sencha
• Both can use web services for content integration
• Both can use local data storage.

Phonegap:

• Can be placed on the Market for others to find and install your app on their device.
• Resides on the device and can use it's hardware (camera/gps/accelerators/etc.) much like a native application.
• Can be expanded (through plugins) to work with native device code if the need were to arise.

Mobile Website:

• You control the deployment of the app via your web server. (e.g. you can make a change and it takes effect immediately across all devices.)
• Less dependent on web services for including database content
• You can take advantage of PHP/Python/ASP and other web design technologies that produce the HTML/CSS/Javascript for you.

And I'm sure that this list is in no way a complete list of differences between the two, but I hope I hit the highlights...

Is there is any specific question you still have?

Answer 2

Phonegap uses web related technologies as a bridge between the native APIs of the targeted platform and the user defined business logic of the application.

Under the hood phonegap uses a big fatty codebase/library that translate your HTML/JS in native API calls.

Most of the users consider HTML/JS a more friendly solution instead of C/C++/Java/ObjC/C# and so on, also they do not need to have a good CV and a big know how to code in HTML or JS; the downside is that the performances are horrible and you basically can do nothing about it. Usually this frameworks are used by apps that are already dead before reaching the market.