Consistent UI rather than constant UI across platforms using sencha touch

[tarun_sharma]

Hi,
I was wondering how do i create consistent UI across all the platform rather than constant UI. Here by consistent i mean UI should look native to that particular platform. For example a tab bar in iOS is at the bottom and has particular look and feel whereas tab bar in Android is at the top and has different look.

If i create tab bar in sencha it is by default at the bottom and provides a blue look and feel much similar to iOS, but it won't work for Android because with default look I will loose the Android app feel, it will be like iOS app inside Android.
So how do i address this issue? Do i write if else conditions for all the platforms to layout components correctly and apply specific CSS or I can do it through theming and if yes to what extend i can do things using theming?? Note my aim is not only having different branding of components but also changing their positions/ orientations etc.

The answers of these kind of questions are must as these would decide whether we should adopt sencha as cross platform tool or not. I would be grateful if i can get any working example of this kind which runs on iPhone/iPad/Android phone/ Android Pads providing their platform specific UIs.

Thanks,
Tarun.

[craigsmitham]

Tarun,

What you are trying to do may or may not be feasible with Sencha Touch, I'm not experienced enough to give you a definitive answer. You may be able to create a custom theme for each device and have them applied programmatically based on the native device. However, I think you should reconsider your UI design strategy. I can understanding not wanting your web app to look like an iOS app on android. That's just corny. So, I would suggest investing effort into developing a custom theme/UI/feel to your app as opposed to trying to make it look just like every other native app: iOS/Android (or blackberry, or WebOS, or Kindle Fire, etc). Plus, the extra effort you put into a custom look and feel can be leveraged across all platforms.