It was a horrible experience in the sense that I was stuck when getting the complete thing set up. I never got as far as building the app, even for Android.

Maybe I was looking at the wrong instructions or outdated instructions. I found the mix of plug-ins that need to be installed for functionality and the (un)availability of the features depending on versions of various plugins perplexing and the process of installing too opaque.

In retrospect I'm sorry I didn't keep notes of my dealings with Phonegap, but I think I wasted three or four evenings on it before trying Java instead. In comparison, the Google Android Studio (rebranded IntelliJ) made Java on Android shine and I got to a working application within one or two days of autocompletion and Stackoverflow.

I see. Hopefully things have improved with the newer version of PhoneGap.

It would take me far too much time to make a Java version of my website to make it into an app - and I am not even familiar with Java's syntax. I discovered PhoneGap and thought I could give it a shot - though understandably the html-css-javascript app will not equal to a native app.