Re: Web application is easier to develop?

From: Graham Perkins (grahamPerk_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 01/29/04 

Date: 28 Jan 2004 16:59:08 -0800

Doc O'Leary <droleary.usenet@subsume.com> wrote in message news:<droleary.usenet-C21217.19482621012004@corp.supernews.com>...
> In article <c93e5fda.0401202108.27b42291@posting.google.com>,
> kent@cpttm.org.mo (Kent Tong) wrote:
>
> > Martin Fowler says it is easier to develop a web app using a
> > browser as the UI than a fat client. However, in my experience
> > it would take 5 times as much effect to develop a web app.

I believe it's because of the tools and user expectations. More
honestly, he should say that it's easier to develop a crap web
interface that most people will tolerate than a good fat client
that only the experts will appreciate. I love Pegasus Mail client
running IMAP, but most people seem to put up with hotmail web
client!

> I can't explain his reasoning, but in my experience it is true *because*
> a web app tends to have a bland, generic interface. Looking an the
> entire problem from an MVC perspective, the only real difference between
> a web app and a desktop app is the V portion.

No. The real difference is
  web: interaction point causes whole form reload
  desktop: interaction point refreshes only affected parts

Yes, clever web programmers can reduce the problem by dividing
screen/form into little frames to be reloaded separately, or
generating javascript to handle some client-side work. But
until the window system and the web client are merged, the native
window system will always be HCI richer.

(incidentally, the decades-old XWindow system *does* merge the
two. The windows system *is* the network client. Desktop apps
run exactly the same regardless of whether the GUI is on the
server or the client.)

BTW you seem to misrepresent MVC. A key aspect is that a
complete MVC form/window is a composition of separate MVC
items. Thus individual items on the screen are continuously
synchronised with the underlying model state. There is no
need for a global post-and-refresh mechanism.

Don't you ever get the feeling that a web app is just an
old fashioned command dialogue tarted up with a few images?

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