I have been assigned to build a mobile web application. I have found two ways to develop that (there might be hundred other ways to do that, but I am aware of these two): jQuery Mobile and HTML 5.
Which one should I use? The application will be a normal web app, like a shopping web app or a user management system.
I am looking for compatibility in different phones and great UI with fast processing.
It’s not a case of using one or the other – you use both to create a solution.
HTML5 provides the framework to present your content, whether it is text, images, video, audio, or any mixture of the above.
jQuery (Original or Mobile) is used for “Progressive Enhancement”, that is to provide additional functionality, features or flair to the HTML5 framework.
To ensure the best compatibility across the majority of devices, you want to have a website which is usable without the jQuery enhancement. Then, once you have that, you can use jQuery (and/or standard javascript) to add the “nice-to-have”s, like animations, AJAX interactions, geolocation, etc.