I recently stumbled across "shoelace", which at a glance seems like an example of what the article is hoping for. It's a thoughtfully designed library of UI web components.
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- I can't swipe left/right between the tabs
- I can't pull the menu out from the left by swiping the entire page right
Two of the most basic touch navigation metaphors aren't supported. To be fair, Polymer and MDL don't support the above either. But this is why HTML5 apps are still not up to par with native apps. I really want to see a web component library with full touch functionality -- tab swiping, pinch zoom on images, pull to refresh on lists and card lists.
> - I can't swipe left/right between the tabs
> - I can't pull the menu out from the left by swiping the entire page right
Most native apps don't do either of those two things either... at least on iOS. I can't speak to how Android apps behave these days.
Maybe these are your favorite interaction modes, but it really has nothing to do with whether X is "up to par with native apps."
I'm certain these things could be implemented. Clearly they weren't considered desirable by the authors of Shoelace.
What really holds HTML5 apps back is the fact that Apple consistently drags their heels on adopting push notifications for web. It only has to be available for apps that have been added to the home screen, so all the users who complain about getting nagged for notifications as they browse the web would still be perfectly happy not to be getting nagged. Without notification support, the number of companies who seriously invest in HTML5 apps (instead of native apps) is nearly zero, which really hinders investment in HTML5 frameworks targeting mobile app development (not frameworks just targeting mobile website development).
Clearly, Apple benefits from pushing app developers into the App Store where they can require those developers to give them a cut of the profits.
Not ideal, but when I describe pros/cons of PWA vs App store, and the only downside is sms notifications, they have so far always been willing to make the sacrifice.