Enrich Your Web Applications

By Akash Mehta
2008-02-24


The Rich Internet Application

Web 2.0 applications, rich web applicatinos, rich internet applications - what do all these terms mean? There really is no clear definition of what makes a web site a rich internet application, or RIA, as I'll refer to them for the purpose of this tutorial. Some suggest it involves AJAX. Others, the new trends in web design - rounded corners, rich (sIFR?) typography, "beta" tags. Others still suggest the bleeding edge approaches - Google Gears, Adobe AIR, Flash/Flex etc.

But none of this means anything to you, as a developer. Sure, you could go and rebuild your application for Adobe AIR - but what's in it for you? In this tutorial, I'll show you how to enrich your web applications, both on the design side and behaviour side, in a way that gives you results - happier clients/users, less calls to tech support, more self-explanatory UIs. You can't always be on the bleeding edge - using tried and tested methods is generally much safer - but from the web 2.0 excitement, common trends are emerging, and implementing these ideas in your applications will make them easier to use and save you tech support time.

Tutorial Pages:
» Introduction
» The Rich Internet Application
» Our approach
» Design
» Behaviour
» Conclusion

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