Sencha offers HTML5 framework for mobile apps

16.11.2010
Sencha began offering on Monday Sencha Touch, an HTML5-based mobile application development framework for touch-based devices. The company also detailed plans for an upgrade to its Ext JS JavaScript framework.

Available as a free download, Sencha Touch 1.0, enables cross-platform development of touch-enabled Web applications. Developers can use it to access HTML5 technologies such as geolocation, localStorage, and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) 3. It is built on Sencha's Ext JS JavaScript technology and supports Webkit-based smartphones and tablets. The product constitutes the "world's first HTML5 mobile Web framework," said Ed Spencer, senior software architect at Sencha, at the Sencha Conference 2010 event in San Francisco. HTML5 is a Web development specification and related technologies for building modern standards-based Web  applications with capabilities such as multimedia.

Sencha Touch features a theming system to change an application's appearance with a few lines of code, Sencha said. Resolution independence technology in the product allows consistent display on devices with different pixel densities. Data management classes and a touch event system allow developers to focus on their application rather than on eccentricities of mobile platforms.

Sencha Touch 1.0 had been in a beta test period since June. It supports development for platforms including Google Android and Apple iOS. A roadmap detailed for the product has RIM Blackberry support being added in Sencha Touch 1.1 in the first quarter of 2011.

Sencha had charged $99 for the beta release of Sensa Touch but decided to drop this fee. "We want this to be the de facto standard that everyone uses," for mobile development, Spencer said. The company sells support services for Sencha Touch as well as development frameworks such as Ext JS.