Scarcity

The Cordova support ends here, however. In particular, the framework was not designed to offer any user-interface components or widgets that would allow you to click together a user interface quickly. Only simple dialog windows for warnings, error messages, and simple queries are available (via the cordova-plugin-dialogs plugin).

For further UI elements (e.g., switching pages), you must either implement them yourself or rely on JavaScript libraries such as the popular jQuery UI [10]. However, a disadvantageous side effect is that the application will not be able to assume the appearance of the target platform.

Another disadvantage for pure Linux users: Because Cordova requires the SDKs for each respective target platform, iOS apps can only be created and tested on OS X. Therefore, if you want to develop for iPhones, you need an Apple computer. The same applies to Windows Phone and a Windows computer.

Furthermore, app developers must set up and maintain the SDKs by hand, as well as manually certifying apps such as those for the Play Store. The Cordova documentation consists only of a short tutorial, though it is still a very detailed reference [1].

Conclusion

Despite these restrictions, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript experts can get to their first app fairly quickly using Cordova. You can address the smartphone hardware in the familiar JavaScript and do not need to worry about platform differences: The same code runs on both iOS and Android.

Cordova's command-line tools abstract the individual platform SDKs from the properties, although app developers do require the relevant hardware for their installation. You must also work on the command line, implement the user interface completely independently, and retrofit numerous functions via the appropriate plugins.

If you want to create a finished app at greater speed or with just a few mouse clicks, then, you will be better served by another tool.