The Chamber of Architects in Baden-Württemberg organizes numerous award procedures and tours. To date, there have also been numerous print publications. In contrast, the new mobile app from the Stuttgart-based Internet agency .FUF, which specializes in the development of mobile applications in addition to websites, is now resource-saving and offers extensive convenience functions. The widespread use of iPhones and iPads within the relevant target groups required development for iOS as well as optimization for Android.
"The decisive objective of our internet agency for programming the extensive app was to get as close as possible to the behavior of a native app despite the implementation as a hybrid app. The basis for this was provided by the powerful technologies AngularJS and HTML5 with CSS3 from our web development department"
Cordova was used directly for packaging and integration into the App Store and Play Store and not via PhoneGap or Ionic, as is often the case. The app has a wide range of functions. Another requirement was intelligent offline capability and efficient storage space management for the hybrid app. After all, the excellent architecture presents itself on current Retina and 4K devices with high-quality hi-res photo material. As the megabytes quickly accumulate to gigabytes, the memory of iPhone and Android devices is quickly filled to capacity. The app, which is around 50 MB in size, initially only installs low-res thumbnail images on the mobile device. The hi-res photos are then loaded by the hybrid app via mobile data or WLAN connection when the individual objects are called up. If you want to make more space available on your mobile device, you can simply select higher-resolution or even high-res image material via WLAN. This means that the cell phone is also ideally equipped for a tour into the deepest Black Forest or for conserving data volume.
The mobile application's powerful search function also works regardless of whether the user is online or offline. Extensive filter options are available to the app user. By category, award or even by distance from their own location. Our Internet agency has developed an intelligent radius search based on geocoordinates for the app. With one click, Google Maps then takes over the routing from the displayed map of the surrounding area.
The mobile application's powerful search function also works regardless of whether the user is online or offline. Extensive filter options are available to the app user. By category, award or even by distance from their own location. Our Internet agency has developed an intelligent radius search based on geocoordinates for the app. With one click, Google Maps then takes over the routing from the displayed map of the surrounding area.
The technology of the hybrid app enables it to run on the most important mobile operating systems iOS and, of course, Android. In addition to the web technologies JavaScript (Angular) and HTML5, the widely used Cordova framework enables the hybrid development of the app. For a long time, the development of native apps was preferred for performance reasons, but now the time has come for hybrid apps. Due to the increase in the computing power of mobile devices and the render engines of web kits, the behavior of hybrid apps can no longer be distinguished from native apps in many cases. On the other hand, hybrid apps require significantly less effort to supply the different operating system platforms. There is also great synergy potential in making the applications available as web apps. Progressive apps (PWA), which offer app functionalities without installation and app stores, are also a very interesting development direction.
When developing hybrid apps progressive web apps, our .FUF digital agency can draw on the in-depth expertise and full range of services of our many years of web development experience.
The app enables the Chamber of Architects to provide interested target groups with a powerful mobile application and to position itself sustainably in the field of building culture.
At the start, the app contains the "Exemplary Building" objects. From now on, the mobile application will be continuously expanded with relevant and high-quality architecture to become a powerful architectural guide for Baden-Württemberg.
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