How can i build an HTML5 app that will work the same on Desktop and IOS ?

I need to have the ability to access files in the client side ( so i need to use a framework like PhoneGap for the API ).
However, phonegap works only for Mobile and not for desktop, what is the standard these days of doing this kind of things ?
i'm sure i'm not the first one to do it.

 

You can't access files directly on client on a web-based HTML5-app. You'll have to work with the user's OS and have an "add file" or similar.

 

You might want to look at node-webkit. It can provide a lot of the same functionality (though you'd need different code to use node.js instead of whatever it is phonegap uses) though it does require that node-webkit be installed on the client computer.

Normally HTML crapplets are VERY restricted in what they are allowed to do on desktop from an utter and complete lack of trust of code being run from the web; I'm actually a bit surprised there aren't more issues on mobile where HTML/JS/CSS are being used to make crapplications with access to things that web delivered code should NEVER have been allowed to have access to in the first place.

From a security standpoint, things like node-webkit and phonegap make me cringe; it's kinda neat that you can use those technologies to make applications, but it starts to become a question of not "can we do this" so much as it should be "should we be doing this?"

Reminds me SO much of the stuff Microsoft added to IE in the 90's with ActiveX and making well documented bindings to Trident for application developers -- and look how well that turned out!