Chapter 1. Making the case
Figure 1.1. The great web advantage—centralized deployment
Figure 1.2. We took a great step backward in terms of usability for the sake of deployability. Mainframes provided horrific user experiences, but were easy to deploy based on their centralized model. Moving to desktop clients allowed for uncompromised usability, but they were a challenge to keep updated. Web applications took a step backward by having a high degree of deployment ease, but they sacrificed usability as a result.
Figure 1.3. Pros and cons of desktop and web clients—choose the lesser of the evils. Desktop clients provide a high degree of experience, but it’s difficult to keep all users synchronized to the same software version. Web applications are the opposite; you can push updates out all day long with ease, but this comes at a cost of usability.
Figure 1.4. RIAs add the best of both worlds by combining the ease of deployment of web applications with the power of client-side usability. Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it too?
Figure 1.5. In Flex, you can make a three-state check box like that of Microsoft Excel. In HTML, the option to extend components isn’t available.
Figure 1.6. Don’t forget to factor in the development costs of supporting multiple browsers when using AJAX.
Figure 1.7. The speed of Flex’s binary protocols versus the verbose approaches of AJAX
Figure 1.8. Flash has always been capable of making RIAs, but can you imagine coding based on time?