Ionic Framework

  Melvin       January 30, 2020

Ionic is an open-source framework used for developing hybrid mobile apps with HTML5. Ionic was created by Max Lynch, Ben Sperry, and Adam Bradley of  Drifty Co. In(independent bootstrapped software company) 2013.

It provides tools and services for building mobile apps using Web technologies like CSS, HTML5, and Sass. Apps can be built with these Web technologies and then distributed through native app stores to be installed on devices by leveraging Cordova.

The ionic framework built on top of AngularJS and Apache Cordova(mobile application development framework). It supports in ios and android. For Android, Ionic supports Android 4.1 and up. For iOS, Ionic supports iOS 7 and up.

Compared to hybrid applications, mixing Ionic code with native mobile app code in PhoneGap (Apache Cordova) allows for higher performance of the resulting product

Services and features

  • It provides all the functionality which can be found in native mobile development SDKs
  • Users can build their apps, customize them for Android or iOS
  • Ionic includes mobile components, typography, interactive paradigms, and an extensible base theme
  • Ionic also provides a powerful command-line interface (CLI), so developers can get started with creating a project with a simple command
  • The CLI also allows developers to add Cordova plugins and additional front-end packages, enable push notifications, generate app Icons and Splash screens, and build native binaries
  • Ionic 2 supports the Windows Phone platform along with Android and iOS.

Ionic 1

  • Built with Angular 1.*
  • Ionic V1 is focused on building native/hybrid mobile apps rather than mobile websites.

Ionic 2

It built with Angular 1.*. Ionic 2 is focused on building both native/hybrid apps through Cordova, as well as adding the ability for Progressive Web Apps and Electron. The following OSs and browsers are supported:

  • iOS 8+
  • Windows 10 Universal App
  • Android 4.4+

Advantage:

  • Cross-Platform Compatibility

The Ionic framework can work just like CSS, a platform that can be optimized in various Mobile Operating Systems. Ionic can reduce the need in rewriting code and Ionic can be integrated into Angular JS so that the code structure can be easily set. The top-notch features available on Ionic can provide new, faster concepts and lower budgets.

The main development in HTML, CSS, and js, which almost all web developers know

And being able to use great frameworks like angular, which is embedded in ionic by default.

Clean User Interface

The ionic style is based on the AngularJS framework that has the added feature of creating a creative mobile app. Ionic frameworks require only a small amount of time to develop.

Disadvantage

Less performance as it's not completely native, not that much of an issue unless making games or high load apps, the ones that use a lot of resources.

The ionic-based app is not as fast as native apps