Single page web application

[google]

Hi

I'm looking for some advice, so if anyone wants to contribute I would
be grateful.

I'm trying to create a web application. By application I mean
something that is like a Windows application, not just a set of web
pages (imagine Microsoft Word as opposed to Amazon). Much of the
'screen' contains static info, along the top is an Office style ribbon
bar with tabs and buttons. Along the left is a treeview with a fixed
set of folders (which expand to fill with specific data). Clicking on
a node or a ribbon button changes the view content to reflect the
selected functionality.

This seems to lend itself well to AJAX. A single page with static data
and only updating a content area that changes based on the selected
functionality. This means that I don't have to download all the static
page content on every page request or node expansion and I'm hoping
this will give a better user experience.

Does anybody have any experience of this kind of application where
affectively you have a single page doing all the work and each
functional area being handled by a different user control? Has anybody
done a full AJAX application and not just a grid refresh via AJAX?

My concerns are how people perceive a single page app, i.e. where the
back and forward browser buttons may not work as expected; where the
URL never changes; where you can't go straight to a page via the URL
but have to go through the entry process. Also I would like to know
how maintainable and extensible people find this approach as opposed
to multiple pages.

Any real world experiences people have would be appreciated.

Thanks
Russell Mason

 

[Guest]

Frankly,
I am not sure what all this "single page" stuff will buy you, other than
increased development time trying to figure out how to make it all work.
What's wrong with more than one page?
Peter

 

[Mark Rae]

Frankly,
I am not sure what all this "single page" stuff will buy you, other than
increased development time trying to figure out how to make it all work.

And really p**sing off the users in the process...

 

[google]

What's wrong with more than one page?

There is nothing wrong it, I'm just looking at alternatives. I would
like to have a good quality UI but the better it looks the larger the
download is. Isn't the point of AJAX to reduce the amount of data
downloaded to just what you need. If you have a tree view you just
download the nodes within the node being expanding rather than those
and the dozens that you already had, along with everything else that
happens to be on the page too. To create a Ribbon bar required a fair
amount of layout. If its content is the same for every page request
(which is the point of the ribbon) it seems a shame to have to
download it every time.

Thanks for your feedback
Russell