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Flash AJAX RIA Developers

Flash AJAX Rich Internet Application Developers

AJAX and Javascript-Based AJAX, shorthand for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, is a development process for creating interactive web applications. AJAX is not a technology in itself, rather a term that describes a group of technologies. An AJAX-built application leverages an intermediary between the user and the server to ensure that the user's interaction with the application happens asynchronously and the user is never staring at a blank browser window waiting for the server to react. AJAX relies on JavaScript, which may be implemented differently by different browsers or versions of a particular browser, meaning cross-browser compatibility can become an issue. In addition users can choose to disable JavaScript support in the browser altogether, which will disable the functionality of the page. There are a number of different approaches to building AJAX applications, including the use of open source technology, AJAX frameworks and specialized toolkits. Microsoft Presentation Foundation "formerly code named Avalon" is the new graphics engine and API on which Windows Vista was built. WPF provides a way to build single-platform applications that behave like RIA's, using Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) and languages like C# and Visual Basic. WPF provides developers with the ability to create experiences that simply cannot exist in the browser, including rich user interface options and 3D capabilities. A second technology in this vein from Microsoft is Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere (WPF/E), the company's answer to the Flash Player. The client for WPF/E is a small download that runs on both Windows and Mac as well as inside browsers such as Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari to present Windows Media content. WPF is meant for creating rich desktop experiences while WPF/E is designed for rich web experiences.

Java Applets are small applications that provide interactive features for web applications that are not possible using HTML. Since the base code of a Java applet is platform independent, they can -- in theory -- be executed identically on most operating systems (Windows, Unix, Mac and inux). Java Applets are often used for calculators, product configurations and scientific projects that involve advanced calculations. While they can be useful, they also come with a number of challenges. Java applets have very limited multimedia capabilities, making it even more difficult to build and design a good user interface with applets than with HTML-based technologies. As well, a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) is required on the end-user's computer to run an applet. JVM's come in different flavors from different vendors and contain differences that prevent applets from running identically on all platforms. The sizes of the JVM, as well as the impossibility to cache and manage applet versions locally make them a bandwidth-intensive option for end-users. One of the challenges in guiding clients through the maze of RIA's is in avoiding the pitfalls. With any early adopter technology, it's easy to inadvertently fall into the trap of making sites so innovative that they loose sight of the primary objective. This happened in the early days of Flash adoption. Sites whirred with animations, buttons flashed and images bounced, just because they could.

How do you avoid the pitfalls of RIA's when guiding clients down this path? The easiest way is to always keep the users' objectives in mind.