We are migrating application to Java and I am considering what
aplication client to choose : Swing or JSP, Rich or Thin client.
Can any body please tell me, what consideration should I take when
deciding to use Swing or Jsp / Rich or thin ?
(With Java Web Start, rich client deployment is no longer issue, is it
?)
With web start, deployment is far less of an issue than it used to be.
Nevertheless, there are still problems there. The one large remaining
issue is that clients will need to have the Java Runtime Environment
installed, which is not a tiny download. The disadvantage of web
applications, on the other hand, is the relative sparsity of components
and tools to build interactive user interfaces.
IMO, this mainly comes down to two concerns:
1. How "attached" is the user base? Will people come across the
application and use it once and then forget about it (or perhaps not
even think of it as an application at all)? Or, do the users tend to
come to work, use your application all day long for eight hours, and
then go home and come back to work the next day to use your application
again? An unattached user argues for simple and stateless deployment,
which generally means web application. A completely attached user means
GUI integration and availability, which means thick client.
2. How interactive is the interface? Although creative use of
JavaScript can do wonders on web pages these days (see several Google
Labs projects, such as Maps and Suggest), it's generally more likely
that an interactive user interface can be built with a thich client than
a web page. There's a good reason, for example, that people don't tend
to use web-based word processors and that there's no Adobe Photoshop
web-app edition. On the other hand, form-based applications that aren't
interactive anyway can generally be delivered by HTML just as easily as
by a thick client.
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