From: Horacio Lopez <vruz@...>
Date: 2002-02-18T02:39:09+09:00
Subject: Re: The GUI Returns


----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Davis" <mdavis@sevainc.com>
To: "ruby-talk ML" <ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org>
Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2002 1:28 PM
Subject: Re: The GUI Returns


[snipmyownstuff]
> I am very interested in Locana:)  I am trying to get the HTML interface
> to Locana ready for release.  Having some difficulty getting the HTML
> events back to Ruby.  It is my opinion that Locana is missing a lot of
> necessary features for it to be considered a good API.  I intend to
> remedy this over the next few months.  If anyone has any suggestions on
> how to make the interface more appealing, I would love to explore them.
>
> I prefer the 2nd option becuase it allows me to write code once and run
> in the platform that is most suitable for the applicate.  My initial
> intent with Locana was to create an interace tha would run on my PC and
> be able to publish it on the web with no additional coding.  The idea is
> that most shops have a lot of users that need some access to data and
> some power users that need a lot of access to data.  The casual users
> could use the HTML interface (Ruby and Locana are not needed on these
> computers) and the power users can install Ruby and Locana to get the
> nicer interface.
>
> --
> Michael Davis
> Database Architect and Senior Software Engineer, Seva Inc.
> Email: mdavis@sevainc.com


I think you have a nice challenge there.

I have been involved in web-based application development
and I still am.(at work)  Moreover, I am on Ruby now because
PHP wasn't good enough for what I was doing (intensive OO)

Unfortunately, the gap between network bandwidth for
www apps and a local GUI bandwidth is *HUGE* and
that makes our web interfaces to suck when compared
to local GUIs.

At some point, you must draw a line, and define if you are
creating a "website"  or you are creating a "web-based application".
Complex GUIs are hard to develop on top of stateless http.
GUI event routing,  concurrent sessions, remote data cacheing, etc.
It all sums up and it becomes an awful lot of work, not that
I am afraid of it, but it takes an awful lot of manpower.

From that point of view, I think Locana can be interesting,
but if you see it from the other side, the side of goodlooking
and highly integrated GUI applications, there's still a *very*
long road to walk.

cheers,
                      vruz


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