Do you have questions about Nokia Web Runtime in Maemo? As announced in the Maemo Summit, it's coming for Maemo 5 and the Maemo 6:

• Developing apps on Maemo with Nokia Web Runtime
• Hands-on development with Nokia Web Runtime
• Forum Nokia: Web Runtime widgets

We have still some months to go. Now starts to be a good time to share questions about this developer technology, so we can fine tune the developer documentation.

Nokia Web Runtime will be landing on Maemo and Symbian (S60 had it for a while but the new generation based on Qt and WebKit is a much more powerful beast). Web Runtime will be positioned as an entry point for cross-platform development and the expectation is to have the majority of developers using this technology, leaving the native Qt based development for specific and justified cases where more complexity and performance is needed.

In fact it is very possible that some of you considering Qt now for cross-platform development will end up using Web Runtime instead.

It is also possible that some of you power users not thinking of learning C, C++ or even Python will end up giving a try to the Javascript based Web Runtime, turning yourselves into developers as well.

So please, share your questions and thoughts here. I can't promise any answers soon but I can grant you that such questions will be taken into account when writing the documentation, helping us to bring the first Nokia Web Runtime releases for Maemo with documentation more suitable for your needs.

Since the Nokia Web Runtime is a cross-platform technology, most of the documentation will be just as cross-platform in itself. However, depending on your feedback we might have some content in the Maemo Developer Guide providing the extra bits interesting to Maemo developers, linking to the original and independent Web Runtime documentation for the rest.

Is it possible to disable the Web Runtime on an individual device?

Mmm this is like asking whether you can disable Hildon on an individual device. Why would you do that?

PS: alright, not a good example since Hildon is providing the Desktop as well. Let's say that it's like willing to "unable" Python (in an hypothetical case where Python would be available and pre-installed).

Btw, if in the future there are pre-installed widgets/apps developed with Web Runtime, "disabling" it you loose those apps. Why a user would like to do that?

Will flash be supported in the n900 web runtime?

If not, will a js interface to phonon or similar be provided for multimedia capabilities?
This would be preferable anyway, and would be the only way such apps could work on s60 I imagine.

Any timeframe for when this will become available for Maemo5?

On the n900, if something goes unused by me, and I have any inkling of an idea it's eating juice, I kill it.

Web Runtime widgets would be no exception. And given the additional overhead (particularly on the GTK based Maemo5), I'd likely be even more apt to try to disable these until they prove useful to me as a user or developer.

This concern primarily applies to widgets though, I don't really desire to disable the runtime, but I would be less likely to use a Web Runtime based widget due to the potentially significant overhead. For an application, this does not bother me.

Will the visible/not-visible signals sent to hildon desktop widgets be accessible to Web Runtime Widgets to prevent unnecessary battery drain?

I *think* Web Runtime will be only opt-in in Maemo 5: you will get it only if you install something using it.

In Maemo 6 it will be pre-installed as official runtime, next to Qt that will be the official native environment. All the rest (including GTK+) will come only when users install apps depending on them.

There is a timeline at http://www.slideshare.net/santtuahon...ia-web-runtime (linked in the first post).

What about using common js libraries (ie. jquery). Will you need to have it a part of your local "widget" or will there be some ones available system wide? I'd hate to have 5 widgets all using a common library and each having to load its own copy of a single library.

I'll repost my questions from Maemo Developers here:

qgil, thanks for answering.

Firstly I am actively checking dependancies for Python at present as my personal preference is to avoid it like the plague. I am not a fan of Byte code and virtual machies, especially on a mobile. If this is being released for N900 I seriously hope it comes with a hge banner on associated apps.

If JScript and the bundle of security issues associated with it are bundled in with Maemo 6 and no way is found to disable them then I will be dumping the platform for development and end use. I am all for people having the choice to use this technology but forcing it on users smacks of Steve Jobs and MS. Thanks but no thanks.

Short summary: by all means develop the sub-systems but don't force us down the Android route. If I wanted an Android machine I would have bought one for much less cash.

Well, Python apps are about 6+ MB in Application Manager. WRT apps will be 10+ so they will be easily recognizable too