Technical Happenings

Why are Web Applications Superior to their Desktop counterparts?

I recently needed to convince a client not to build an application in Excel and deploy throughout Europe on CD. To do this i provided the following list of advantages of web applications.

No need for an install or to ship updates

The application lives in the cloud and is centrally managed, when you launch the application you will always have the latest version. This leads to a single point for updates and fixes with the user receiving the updated version the next time they use the application. You remove any chance of legacy applications being used

No admin rights or approval required

There is no software install, which means that as long as the user can access the site they can use the application. There is no need for a network administrator to approve the installation.

Anytime, Anyplace, no distribution network

You don’t have to be on your office computer to access the application, you can use it from any computer with an Internet connection. Which also means you can distribute globally for zero cost.

Build Once, Run Anywhere (Platform independent)

The browser becomes the platform and developing for that allows users of any underlying operating systems (Mac, Linux, Windows) to access the application.

More Robust and Faster to fix

Developing for one platform reduces the risk of environmental bugs. Also even when a bug does get found it can quickly be rectified and deployed to all users see (No need to install of to ship updates). Makes maintenance and support simpler.

Enables social functionality

The world is becoming more social and people want to collaborate and work online together, having a web application allows you to add this functionality.

Lower cost of deployment

No boxes, printed manual, expensive shipping costs, CD’s, distribution channels,etc.

Usable from inexpensive computers

If your user base has a variety of hardware of differing specification then a web application is for you. The browser is very lightweight in computing power terms and your application will run just as well on a Net-book.

Piracy-proof

can’t be cloned in a DVD Writer.

Instant payment, no need to invoice

If you are charging for you application payments are simple, they can be collected through the application so as long as the customer pays, the account is active

No Viruses

No installation, means no viruses.

Simpler mobile deployment

If you decide you require a mobile version you get a high degree of application re-use; re-purpose key functionality via an alternate interface i.e mobile.

Widest potential audience

For all the points above, this basically unlocks markets for software vendors that previously were inaccessible due to technical reasons.

Make use of a users existing knowledge

It’s safe to assume that nearly everyone is familiar with a web-browser and your application can be designed to take advantage of this knowledge i,e forward, back buttons and bookmarking.

Link Baiting

What does that mean?

Link baiting (or linkbaiting) is a buzz word in the SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) world and has come to be the preferred method of natural link building.

And in English?

You need to create Linkbait. Essentially it is a piece of content placed on a web page – whether it’s an article, blog post, picture, or other content type – that is designed with the intention of naturally attracting back-links for your site.

Where does it come from?

When the browser was first introduced, people went to two extremes. Either they went berserk so that almost everything on the page was hyper-linked, or they created no links whatsoever as a way to keep people on the site. It was almost laughable. 2006 saw the advent of Social Networking and SEO, and the term link-baiting was re-appropriated.

What does it mean for my business (what are the marketing implications)?

If you write/create some interesting content and submit it to the right sites, in the right sort of field, targeting the right audience, (if your facing west as the wind blows from the east) with a bit of  luck you could find you get a surge of traffic.

What do I need to do about it?

Social linking and meritocracy based sites self mediate, with poor content sinking to the bottom, leaving the interesting bits to float to the top. So, ensure you create relevant content (linkbait), and distribute in a targeted and measurable manner.

How or where do I find out more?-

Search for ‘link baiting’ or ‘linkbaiting’ to find myriad results, or you could always find yourself a friendly SEO consultant.

Is it a paradigm shift or just another TLA?

The concept has been around for years in many forms. For example, newspapers use it in the form of headlines and TV shows in the form of teaser content.

The Web Platform

Presented by two of my favorite speakers Dion Almaer and Ben Galbraith and they were as good as ever.  i lost my notes, but this is what i remembered without seeing the slides again.

Mozilla concept series – future of the browser, the sci-fiction.  But what is really happening to the browser.  Started with Netscape Communicator all very busy and in your face feature rich, but now we are minimizing what is shown at the front end, but the underlying engine is getting much more complex.

Now we have multiple libraries dojo, jquery, prototype and many others which allow us to create amazing interfaces on the web.  The developers now have multiple libraries to choose from, but each has its merits.  But what will be the next wave?

Technologies on the horizon

Canvas – part of the HTML 5 Specification, allowing you to have amazing graphics and image manipulation in the browser.  This power is enhanced by the browsers understanding the native formats i.e video.  Why is this better than flash:

• no startup time that plugins have
• available on mobile today
• typography (rendering fidelity)
• no bridge necessary to link runtime like when you use javascript and flash.
• no plugin required
• not in IE yet, typical, but can have a plugin to make it work; although this takes away some of the benifits

Fast Java Script -  For many years performance of Javascript has held back what can be released as an application.  However Chrome on its release included V8 a new javascript engine. This has changed the landscape with all vendors working on there own super fast java engines, all presently in beta, but this will give the ability to create more complex applications.

• Chrome V8
• Firefox  3 Spidermonkey and 4 Tamarin
• Safari SquirrelFish
• Opera Carakan
• IE – likely secret to be included in IE 9

Web Workers – current wait time is just to long and makes potentially great apps poor.  Jacob Nielsen states that an application need to have a response time of 0.1 seconds to be good  and longer than 1.0 second will exceed the users natural wait time. Google Gears made headway here, but this is just a plugin.  we need a component that is a first class citizen within the browser

This leads to the concept of the Open Web Platform, pushing the concept that the web should be a first class platform like Flash JavaFX and Silverlight.  The Open Web Platform initiative also aim to detail  what can you do with the web today and what will the road-map be for tomorrow,allowing developers to see what is coming.

Four points for good application design

• get to know your users
• practice goal orientated design
• visual and interaction design is important
• aesthetic matter

Other items discussed

• Palm Pre has the web as its centralized concept and will likely ship with a JavaScript library i.e prototype

• code editor on the web Bespin (mozilla labs beta), collaborationand coding anywhere.  Looks pretty good start, but as with all editors you need to use it to determine for yourself.

• What should a javasript editor look like Thunderhead (mozilla labs beta)

• Alan Cooper – understand a users goals, but ignore any design they try to describe to you.  I agree every time i see someone try to modify If you do this you will fail to develop

• Delicious Libary no advertising, old idea, well done, lots of cash made for the developer.