Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Now, Ruby on rails
RIA's (Rich Internet Applications) frameworks have come to stay here.
We have them in many flavours: Server-side, pre-compilers, client-side, etc. In a few day I will give you my point of view about all this "new" stuff, starting with Ruby on Rails.
Labels: Platform, Technology
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Designing Interfaces
Well, finally I bought the Jenifer Tidwell's book.
But once I had it, she decided to move it into a new site showing there nearly the whole book! Ok, no problem. I prefer to read from real paper sometimes ;)
Although I think it's a very good basic-book covering most of the aspect of designing a user interface, I think it is very pour in navigation issues. I discover some time ago that Human-Computer researchers where not connected at all with Hypermedia researchers, and it is a huge waste.
Hypermedia patterns can be found here.
Labels: HCI, Hypermedia, Patterns
IBM Approach - Open Laszlo
I have been exploring the open laszlo project.
It's another XAML/XUL-like approach to describe the presentation of a user interface layer. But isn't just another one. Why? It's build over Flash. So, it doesn't require a client installation at all... well, it obviously requires the Flash player, but Macromedia says it's installed in 98% of the internet-ready computers. I think that it turns the Flash Player the most-popular browser (browser = user interface player?). Avalon (included in Windows Vista as Windows Presentation Fundation) is following the same approach, with their own set of tools, including an animation-maker tool. XUL, impulsed by Mozzila.org, is basically the same, but built over dhtml.
I suggest you to see the lazlo on-line examples... I am sure you are ready to. So, it's great. don't you think? "Rich" web user interfaces in nowadays computers?
But now, they are thinking in moving Flash out and adding a new compiler from LZX to the Open Ajax initiative.
So, wasn't it so great?. I think this have a lot to do with the "AJAX platform war" that we are seeing today, and it's nothing but an IBM's tactical decision to impulse their Open Ajax.
I don't know which Ajax framework will finally win but there are a lot of them in the battle, supported by the bug guys.
But I am really sure that the next year, with Windows Vista released, the software industry will need a lot of cross-platforms solutions (converters, translators, abstractions, etc.) one time again.
Labels: Internet, Platform, Technology
