[The Cornerstone] No Non-Web RIAs, Please!

[Jun]

I went to this site and played with the Flex version of BlogReader. Want to know what I think? I am really concerned, to say the least. My question is why are we building a wall between this kind of applications and the Web? The Web is the level playground. When I am inside Flex BlogReader, many questions pop up in my head:

1. Why are the hyperlinks not indicated in any way?
2. When I right-click on a link, how do I open it in a tab (instead of a window)?
3. How do I do a Save Link as ... on it?
4. How do I bookmark the link directly?

You say, well, all these functionalities can be added to the implementation of this Flex BlogReader. But these are standard browser behaviors and why are they suddenly missing from this exciting new kind of RIAs (Rich Internet Applications)?

RIAs should not be non-Web. They should be part of the web. The user doesn't want to know that s/he is inside 1) a standard browser; OR 2) a special Flex window of the standard browser; OR 3) a special Laszlo window of the standard browser; OR 4) a different Swing/SWT window so that s/he know how to react. Everything should just be the Web. That's why Cornerstone Framework pursues the Rich Thin Client approach (sophisticated and yet easy to use DHTML client) to RIA.

References

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Other People Worried about RIAs Too
Web or Desktop?


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Posted by Jun to The Cornerstone at 12/23/2004 01:38:17 PM

[Jun]

I went to this site and played with the Flex version of BlogReader. Want to know what I think? I am really concerned, to say the least. My question is why are we building a wall between this kind of applications and the Web? The Web is the level playground. When I am inside Flex BlogReader, many questions pop up in my head:

1. Why are the hyperlinks not indicated in any way?
2. When I right-click on a link, how do I open it in a tab (instead of a window)?
3. How do I do a Save Link as ... on it?
4. How do I bookmark the link directly?

You say, well, all these functionalities can be added to the implementation of this Flex BlogReader. But these are standard browser behaviors and why are they suddenly missing from this exciting new kind of RIAs (Rich Internet Applications)?

RIAs should not be non-Web. They should be part of the web. The user doesn't want to know that s/he is inside 1) a standard browser; OR 2) a special Flex window of the standard browser; OR 3) a special Laszlo window of the standard browser; OR 4) a different Swing/SWT window so that s/he knows how to react. Everything should just be the Web. That's why Cornerstone Framework pursues the Rich Thin Client approach (sophisticated and yet easy to use DHTML client) to RIA.

BTW, what do I use to read blogs? The excellent Mozilla Thunderbird. Its RSS support makes blog reading easy and well integrated with the browser.

References

---

Other People Worried about RIAs Too
Web or Desktop?


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Posted by Jun to The Cornerstone at 12/23/2004 01:38:26 PM