The API- & APP-ification of the Web

Steven Willmott 3scale networks

@3scale - http://www.3scale.net

(and possibly everything else)

This Work is Licensed Under Creative Commons Creative Attribution 3.0

“Welcome to the App-Economy”

“What will win? Apps v’s HTML(5) ”

“The Death of the Open Web?”

Some Hyperbole but..

There is probably something going on…

And some of has to do with SPAs…

Single Page Web Applications

Server (REST / JSON API)

Buttons

Infinite Scroll

Push Updates

Ember.jsAngular.jsBackbone.js…

Single HTML Page & URL Per Pagemany Pages per Site / App

Pages ServerWhole

Server

SPAs Serve a Single Page of HTML and use in page controls to operate

dynamically

e.g….

(From http://www.angularjs.org)

Obvious Benefits of SPAs

• Lots of Benefits:– Slick interfaces, Similarity to Mobile/Desktop– App Speed, no need for Page Reloads– Interface variants are easier– Realtime / Push updates

• And Downsides: – JS Skills at a premium, Less Tooling, Modern

Browsers Needed, Framework overload…– (and a few others we’ll mention later)

Examples

Evernote: The Platform Imperative

e.g. Evernote

“Capture Everything - Access anywhere”

Mobile Platforms

DesktopPlatforms

Web Browsers

Top Apps

App Like User Experience

https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#st=p&n=acfb0b6e-8681a424246chttps://www.evernote.com/Home.action#b=7bc900cc5876&st=p&n=a6d5-8681a424246c

Single PageParam Driven

Zendesk: Speed and Slicks

e.g. Zendesk

Real Time Updates

No Page Redraws

Effectively a .jsApp

API User Community

• App.js Example• Same Agility for All• More Robust API• 90+ Integrations

Value…

• Platform strategy• Uniform user experience• Fast, Responsive, No Page Reloads, Push• API Enables 3rd Party Use, Javascript components

make that use easier

• Both also have: dev communities & mobile apps

Adoption and Impact on the Web

Who Will Adopt?(assuming the tech works)

Mobile Natives>> SAAS

>> Ecommerce >>

Content

Impact is more

And more radical

But there are issues…

Links?Referencing?

Crawling & Indexing?

UI Fragmentation?

…Openness?

RSS Following?

Discovery? SEO?

Adoption Complexity & Disruption

LinkingReferencing

Seamless Browsing Discovery

Mobile Native Businesses OS Specific UI is App Specific App Store

SAAS Businesses In app is fine UI is often Specific

Primary Domain Only

eCommerce Businesses

Items need to be addressable

from anywhere

Common Check Out Metaphors

Are usefulMostly for

Primary Domain

Content BusinessesNeeds to

addressable from anywhere

Expect Consistent Web

UISEO is Critical

So – How do We Move Forward?

• Things we MUST Preserve:– Link-a-bility– Browse-a-bility– Crawl/Index/Discover-a-bility– Follow-a-bility

• And a new thing we want to Gain including:– Script-a-bility

Technical Challenges

Changing Architecture of the Web

Link-a-bility

• Hyperlinking• Fragment Referencability

• Web Links Still Work• Fragments Still Work• Param Schemes Need

to be Complete• Avoid Header

Information

http://www.gluecon.com/….

• Links need to be immutable/persistent• Always addressable in the same way• Fragment Identifiers need the right

semantics

Browse-a-bility• Automatically detect an

adequate handler for Content• Possibly offer choices for

handlers

• Mobile Situation is improving

• Browser Requirements are a problem

• HTML5+JS are becoming general compute canvas

• Huge problem is testing / reliability

• Browsing needs to seemlessly navigate between sites and always be able to handle content automatically

• Android: URI Event Subscription Handlers• IOS: Hard code apps to handle referals

Crawl/Index/Discover-a-bility• Explore and Classify

Pages/Fragments• Index, Rank and Return them

upon Search

• Not under the control of Webmasters

• Early SEO fix “#” Fragment URLS (Indexed by Google)

• Google allows Param Includes (not clear how strong)

• Reality: Chicken/Egg Situation

• In addition to Linking• Meta-data is critical • Page Content is critical • URL Content is critical• “machine identification of content /

value”

Metadata Content

Reputation / Value

Follow-a-bility• RSS Feeds for certain types of

content• Have a Consistent Handle on

“what’s new”

• RSS Now has a limited number of consumers

• “social” is touted as the replacement

• Consistent APIs May be helpful (but don’t exist yet)

• Replacement/Augementation with PubSubHUb?

• Subscribe to a feed• Receive every item on the feed (and not

miss any)• Single Common Standard• It’s Polling but Structured

Script-a-bility• APIs form the basis for

interactions• Events scripted across

sites/platforms

• APIs are starting to become more widespread

• Standardization on oAuth is Helping

• Still a ton of work to do the plumbing

• Still sometimes a little complex for the end user

• Underlying APIs expose functionality• No human UI Interaction needed• Scripting platforms allow simple

interactions to occur in an automated way

Conclusions

Beyond the Web

Live Scribe PenText and Audio$150

Smart NotebookPhoto & TagsNew App$25-30

Mobile

Desktop

Web

Physical

Other Examples: Box + Printers & Scanners

Philips Hue

API Platform + Apps is Key for Mixing Digital and Non-Digital

SPA Helps Align the Web with everything else..

• Vast majority of Apps are still not SPA• Most apps still “decide” between Native first v’s

HTML5 first• Mobile commerce is mostly separated “Web”

commerce• Most APIs feeding mobile are still hard wired into a

single Apps• Auth on mobile and the Web are often still

completely different• Physical devices now linking in

… isn’t this all obvious?Not so much…

Next 2-3 years will see radical change in mainstream usage

Big Ideas to Take Away

1

2

3

SPAs Will see increasing adoption

Potentially Disruptive Change to the Web itself

Lots of work to do to make it seamless & open

Thank you!

steve@3scale.net@njyx, @3scale

We make Awesome API Management Tools:http://www.3scale.net/

References

• http://blog.stevensanderson.com/2012/08/01/rich-javascript-applications-the-seven-frameworks-throne-of-js-2012/

• http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2012/12/rethinking-mobile-first.html

• http://pandodaily.com/2012/12/06/html-javascript-and-the-app-ification-of-the-web/