Next-generation Web app frameworks deliver results
During the Internet boom, there were a variety of software vendors — many now gone, such as Curl and Altio — touting a technology known variously as Rich Internet Applications (RIAs), X Internet applications, and Web apps; New Rowley calls these solutions UI apps. The goal was to replace server-generated Web pages — pages, such as shopping carts, that require a roundtrip to the server for any update — with interactive, desktop-like software. A large part of the appeal of UI apps is that there is no cost for software distribution and installation (apps load by clicking on a Web page link) that these new apps would be platform-agnostic, and that they would require less bandwidth than server-based solutions do.
While the UI app category generated reasonable media interest, potential customers largely ignored the new development and runtime environments and kept their wallets closed.
A few years ago, a second wave of contenders again raised the specter of replacing static, server-based Web apps with interactive frameworks that mimicked desktop software in terms of look and feel and capabilities. Macromedia created some media interest with its Flex environment, while vendors like Laszlo Systems and Nexaweb Technologies pitched their own solutions. Meanwhile, Microsoft, never willing to let any company trump a possible future computing paradigm, talked about its forthcoming efforts that would be tied to the long-overdue Longhorn update to the Windows operating system. And throughout both periods, Sun Microsystems was consistent: It failed to noticeably improve Java's thin-client graphical capabilities enough to make the language and environment the default UI app foundation.
Recently, some of the power of using these next-generation Web app frameworks has been derailed by Google. While UI app vendors tend to downplay the ability to create robust and sustainable Web apps based on a hybrid of technologies like JavaScript, XML, and CSS (this technique is often called Ajax), Google continues to impress with its slick, scalable solutions. Examples include its Gmail email solution — Gmail remains in beta and can still only be used by those invited to join — and its Google Maps offering — an app so well done that it makes traditional desktop-mapping apps unappealing.
However, for companies that don't possess — or aren't willing to invest in — Google-like solutions, they have alternatives that rely on well-known technology and more typical coding practices. Nexaweb, with its recent 4.0 platform release, is such a product. While this version will cause a hiccup for existing users because they have to do some code rewriting to adhere to new application programming interfaces, 4.0 offers a much more robust environment based on its Java and XML underpinnings. Key to this release is the new plug-in framework that enables developers to leverage third-party — or their own — Java components. For example, a company can integrate a third-party, Java-based graphing module or add an internally created UI widget.
While many companies ignore the potential payback of UI apps, Google's offerings and Nexaweb's framework are robust reminders that there are plenty of viable ways to improve Web-based interactivity. And unlike many Flash-based Web app efforts, these approaches focus on delivering substance and more than enough style.
While the UI app category generated reasonable media interest, potential customers largely ignored the new development and runtime environments and kept their wallets closed.
A few years ago, a second wave of contenders again raised the specter of replacing static, server-based Web apps with interactive frameworks that mimicked desktop software in terms of look and feel and capabilities. Macromedia created some media interest with its Flex environment, while vendors like Laszlo Systems and Nexaweb Technologies pitched their own solutions. Meanwhile, Microsoft, never willing to let any company trump a possible future computing paradigm, talked about its forthcoming efforts that would be tied to the long-overdue Longhorn update to the Windows operating system. And throughout both periods, Sun Microsystems was consistent: It failed to noticeably improve Java's thin-client graphical capabilities enough to make the language and environment the default UI app foundation.
Recently, some of the power of using these next-generation Web app frameworks has been derailed by Google. While UI app vendors tend to downplay the ability to create robust and sustainable Web apps based on a hybrid of technologies like JavaScript, XML, and CSS (this technique is often called Ajax), Google continues to impress with its slick, scalable solutions. Examples include its Gmail email solution — Gmail remains in beta and can still only be used by those invited to join — and its Google Maps offering — an app so well done that it makes traditional desktop-mapping apps unappealing.
However, for companies that don't possess — or aren't willing to invest in — Google-like solutions, they have alternatives that rely on well-known technology and more typical coding practices. Nexaweb, with its recent 4.0 platform release, is such a product. While this version will cause a hiccup for existing users because they have to do some code rewriting to adhere to new application programming interfaces, 4.0 offers a much more robust environment based on its Java and XML underpinnings. Key to this release is the new plug-in framework that enables developers to leverage third-party — or their own — Java components. For example, a company can integrate a third-party, Java-based graphing module or add an internally created UI widget.
While many companies ignore the potential payback of UI apps, Google's offerings and Nexaweb's framework are robust reminders that there are plenty of viable ways to improve Web-based interactivity. And unlike many Flash-based Web app efforts, these approaches focus on delivering substance and more than enough style.