Why Web Applications

Developing Web applications rather then traditional desktop applications offers tremendous benefits to both software developers and application users alike.

For the software developer there is the obvious cost savings of not having to distribute applications on a physical medium. In addition, all updates whether maintenance or whole new versions, are instantaneously available to your entire customer target audience at the time of release. There is a huge manpower savings regardless of whether the application is targeting an Intranet or the public Internet.

For the application user, the simplicity of application access is refreshing. There is no need to do complex installs (which from a user's perspective seem to fail more often then not). In addition, when new Web technologies such as Dynamic HTML (DHTML) and Microsoft's specification for ActiveX controls are implemented within an application, the user is afforded the same richness of interface and functionality that desktop computer users have come to expect. No longer is the user of a Web browser limited to performance problems associated to the retrieval of static pages from the remote servers. In addition, the new functionality is replacing the typical 'Submit' button found on most current interactive web sites.

The new Web development technologies enable the core functionality of a web application to execute within the client computer containing the browser. When new record based information is queried and displayed (such as a Customer), there is no need to re-retrieve the html page from the server; only the Customer data is retrieved and repainted, not the whole page. These techniques give Web applications the same performance and non-flicker appearance as traditional client/server approaches.