On 5/30/2017 2:33 PM, Ed Leafe wrote:
Just responded to Ed's post saying that a desktop UI still kicks ass
over a web page UI.
Ten years ago I would have wholeheartedly agreed with you. Five years
ago I wouldn't have been too sure about that. Now think that the
Javascript tools and frameworks have advanced so that they can do as
much or more than desktop widgets, and they totally kick ass when used
on mobile platforms.
...
Rich client will always be a better user experience than dumb terminal.
Note that "javascript" is essentially "rich client thinking" - albeit
rich client as rendered within a "browser platform". Most "mobile apps"
that are "good" do not use "browser" technology: they implement their
own form of "rich client". Essentially, what we're witnessing to a
degree is a return to "rich client" design and processing.
What amazes me is the horrific browser-based incompatibilities that
still exist. Even within a single enterprise... sometimes we have to
turn on IE's "View in Compatibility Mode" sometimes not - and don't even
try to view the same web pages in firefox, IE, and Chrome and expect
similar results. There is no web page that is truly responsive: every
web application where I work (which is quite a large company) is
pathetically slow. All their "browser-based" applications have
essentially turned into "Excel-export" engines because the user
experience is so horrible. That's after 100's of millions of dollars
were sucked into creating those supposedly wonderful browser-based
applications.
So, while javascript, silverlight, and whatever else have gotten us
close to where we were in the 1990's in regards to user interfaces, I
hope folks can understand my negativity. Just imagine where our UI's
would have been if we had avoided the decades jump backward of "browsers"
Note my views have NOTHING to do with "the internet" or "centralized
data" or "connecting to everything", etc. Accessing, sharing, publishing
data securely "across the internet" can, and does, work just fine
without any browser involvement.
In fact, I'm planning on building the web pages for this Automated Data
Dictionary concept for my company. Most of the functionality will be in
the "API" (aka stored procedures in the database). I'm going to also
build, on my own time, a VFP integration into that API. I'll show both
of the UI's and let them decide which is the better experience. I have a
very strong suspicion that the user population simple does not realize
how much they're being hampered by web browsers.
And before people start slobbering themselves with "... but... but...
the DISTRIBUTION!!!! OMG!! How could you DISTRIBUTE a rich client
application..." - really, don't bother. Simple file shares (dare I say
even "sharepoint"?) make rich client distribution fall-off-a-log easy
and secure. I have seen more browser-based "distribution" problems than
I've ever seen with my "desktop" distributions.
I imagine the usual MS-heads, or browser-pundits, or whatever will
say... "oh, it sounds like your web developers are just too STUPID to
know how to do things right..." Whatever. They're all "MS-certified"
"Web page designer-certified" developers. So it seems a little fishy
that "certified experts" working in the field for 2 decades still cannot
do it well (I'm being a little facetious here - based on my experience,
I realize "certifications" mean almost nothing in the real world of
software development).
-Charlie
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