Q: I thought offline browsing was a feature of HTML5 standard. Why would I need a special platform to make offline apps?
HTML5 Application Cache is built on browser cache technology and is not meant for large-scale app development.
HTML5 Application Cache comes with severe limitations on size and types of assets that it can store offline. You cannot store video in HTML5 Application Cache on iOS. HTML5 offline web apps require server infrastructure to support native convenience features like push notifications or granular cache updates.
High quality HTML5 offline web apps must be programmed around these limitations or have their feature set reduced to fit HTML5 capabilities available on target platform. This requires talent and multiplies cost of development. Consequently, very few new websites are actually developed today with an ability to work offline.
Offline Pages Business App Platform has none of these limitations. It has been routinely used to build offline iOS apps for websites with assets that exceed 16GB in size, an array of exciting interactive HTML5 features, HD quality video, and panoramic 3D content, all of which made available offline. These iOS apps cost little more to develop than actual websites with no offline support at all.
Best of all, Offline Pages Business App Platform can add offline capabilities to legacy websites that were developed originally with no consideration for offline browsing.