The Disappearing Desktop - It's Real This Time

[Erin D. Smale]

Compensating for browser antics is probably where I spend a third of my 
programming time. There are certainly several tried-and-true means by 
which to ensure compatibility for particular modules in a so-called web 
app, but as client requirements get more complex, these techniques are 
proving less and less resilient to customer expectations. Of course, a 
good many of these problems could be avoided if:

(1) Software companies would adhere to standards during the development 
cycle
(2) Customers were given more realistic expectations of the limitations 
inherent to the browser/web server relationship (Yes, you can manage 
data; No, you cannot download the prescription you just ordered.)

IME, many clients (and not a few developers) still work under the 
incomplete notion that Web=Internet. As a result, customers get to 
believing that the Internet is useless without a web browser, and 
developers get discouraged when a browser limits application 
functionality. Like my father used to say, "You can't fit 10 pounds of 
**** in a 5 pound bag."

While I do spend most of my "earning dollars" hours writing stuff with 
PHP and javascript and MySQL, there are several client applications in 
my recent past that I would have preferred to do "outside the browser." 
Now that I have Rev, I can start doing so with what I believe is a 
reasonable and cost-effective chance of success :-)

PS. On a positive note, using Rev to access data and resources on web 
servers does give us the opportunity to adopt standards from the 
beginning of an application's life cycle.

PPS. Great discussion--glad I joined the list!

-- Erin

Check out The Chimera RPG:
http://www.welshpiper.com



Trevor DeVore wrote:

> On Nov 10, 2005, at 10:12 AM, Chipp Walters wrote:
>
>
> The big kicker is the cross-platform/browser techniques.  This is a  
> major pain.  In terms of testing, PHP and SQL are easy.  Getting  
> things to work across browsers can be a headache.
>