UCSF: zippify native app

[Trott]

May need to move things more towards a SPA.

Check out:

• http://ify.io/lazy-loading-in-angularjs/
• http://stackoverflow.com/a/12864137/436641
• http://docs.angularjs.org/api/angular.module
• http://tv.adobe.com/watch/max-2013/top-10-performance-techniques-for-phonegap-applications/

[Trott]

Still need to review some of the links above, but in the existing setup, the main culprit seems to be external JS loaded on the initial page of an app. Thing to do is probably get minimal HTML loaded with a progress spinner and then append the JS scripts to the DOM after the load event has fired.

[Trott]

Ooof, I think the only way around this, short of one huge honkin' single page app (which is an option), is to make sure that the main menu for each subapp loads without the need for any JS. Shuttle, Directory, and News are especially problematic right now. The thing they have in common is a need to load external JS, but even when I remove that need (for Shuttle, anyway), it's still kind of slow. Could try inlining everything. But probably best to serve up a menu and load any JS after deviceready and/or load fires. This will mean that the apps are not SPAs but instead a front menu page that links to places inside a SPA.

Or just go for one huge honkin' SPA, at least for PhoneGap.