Qt at MWC: Our Qt HTML5 jumping Norwegian guy

Most people are well aware that Qt includes WebKit integration, and has included it since Qt 4.4.

This week at Mobile World Congress we are showing what people can do with Qt WebKit and the technologies commonly referred to as HTML5 on mobile devices. The demo we have features a range of apps, including my favourite - a game about a platform jumping Norwegian guy, complete with Norwegian knitware.

With the Qt SDK 1.1, developers will be have some simple, powerful tools to use to Qt to create HTML5 apps for Qt platforms such as Symbian.

There are some exciting opportunities created by this.

Because HTML5 is becoming ubiquitous, developers can reuse web code from their Qt HTML5 application for any modern web-enabled platform.

Since we are wrapping web code in a Qt shell, the powerful Qt WebKit API can expose unique application specific features easily to the web environment. A good example of this (which you’ll see in our demo video) is sensors readings on a Symbian device.

With Qt SDK 1.1, developers can use Qt Creator to simulate their HTML5 apps on the desktop in the Qt Simulator.

Qt Creator also understands JavaScript, HTML and CSS so it highlights syntax and allows code blocks to be expanded and collapsed, which helps developers work more efficiently.

Developers can then deploy their complete app including web code to a Qt supported device for testing.

Once the final version of the Qt SDK 1.1 arrives, developers will be able to submit these apps to Ovi store, just as they would submit other types of Qt apps.

I’ve been showing the demo for several days at MWC, and people have been really impressed by the native-like performance, and many of our visitors are very interested in the possibilities of Qt WebKit and HTML5.

A lot of people have asked about the source code for our demo app, and I am happy to say we will share the code soon on Gitorious. Keep an eye on Qt Labs for a post announcing the code being available.

We filmed a video of the demo while we were at the show. Enjoy.


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