We might not be able to deliver cross-platform Flash applications to mobile devices, but we can implement HTML5. Sencha is a combination of efforts from jQTouch, Raphaël, and Ext JS who’ve delivered the first public beta of Sencha Touch, which is the first HTML5 Framework for mobile devices. HTML5 applications allow powerful web apps to be used offline, across mobile devices (iPhone & Android), and can take advantage of third party analytics services.
The Sencha framework itself is only 80Kb when zipped – the accomplishment partly because all images in the framework are generated purely in CSS3. If this doesn’t seem like the perfect avenue for developers to create great, web based applications, I don’t know what will.
This is the first public beta of the framework and we welcome your feedback. There’s definitely still work to be done. We’re working on Android forms with great attention. We need to make it easier to build a HTML5 cache manifest. We need to build an Optimizer that will strip out parts of the framework that you don’t need. And then, we have some awesome graphics planned, hopefully before release.
If you want to get a feel for what Sencha Touch can do for you, check out the demos from your mobile device. If you’re interested in the Sencha Trouch framework, make sure to read through the quick Touch preview for more information.
