Rich Internet Application Technology Comparison
Introduction
Today, RIA (Rich Internet Applications) technology is widely used, also referred to as Rich Internet Clients (RICs). RICs provide the usability, responsiveness, and reuse of client/server applications with the deployment, manageability, and availability of a traditional Web application.
RIAs offer the flexibility and ease of use of an intelligent desktop application, and add the broad reach of traditional web applications with an entirely new kind of web experience that is engaging, interactive, lightweight, and flexible.
Possible Problem
At present, many websites are using DHTML and AJAX technology in HTML pages. We also used this in some of our .net outsourced projects. However, per our experiences, by this way we will encounter a big problem about Browsers’ Compatibility. For example, DOM is quite different in IE and in Safari. Although it is possible to make this kind of web application work in all browsers, it will take the developer much time and it is very difficult to maintain when the browsers update.
Another very popular technology is Flash, it doesn’t have Browsers’ Compatibility problem but it’s very hard to integrate with .NET, this requires the .NET developers make special efforts, since our region is .NET software outsourcing, it is not the best choice for us.
Silverlight might be a good choice.
Comparison
|
Item
|
DHTML & AJAX
|
FLASH
|
Silverlight
|
|
User Experience
|
Normal
|
Very Good
|
Very Good
|
|
Browser Compatibility
|
Hard to support and maintian
|
IE, Firefox, Safari, etc. Popular Browsers
|
IE, Firefox, Safari, etc.
Popular Browsers
|
|
Popularity
|
N/A
|
High
|
Normal(New)
|
|
Version
|
N/A
|
Normal, version 9.0
|
New Tech, version 1.1
|
|
Study Efforts
|
Normal
|
Normal
|
Normal
|
|
Use
|
Easy(If do not consider compatibility)
|
Normal
|
Normal
|
|
Integrate with .NET
|
Easy
|
Hard
|
Easy
|
|
Network Performance
|
HIGH
|
Normal
|
HIGH
|
|
Client Performance
|
Few Codes High
Much Codes Low
|
High
|
High
|
|
Designer Tools
|
Use css
|
Flash CS3
PhotoShop CS3
|
Blend,
Expression Designer
|
Silverlight
1. Silverlight is a cross browser technology, we don’t need to consider the browsers’ compatibility problem.
2. Silverlight integrates with .NET very well, so it is easier to use and develop.
3. Silverlight do not have controls at present, but in version 2.0, many controls will be released for Web designer. Those controls will make Web development easier and faster.
4. According to the features supported by Silverlight, more web page elements and properties can be controlled than DHTML&AJAX.
5. Good user experiences.
Sample site
1. Silverlight official home page: www.silverlight.net
2. ComponentOne silverlight controls page: http://labs.componentone.com/sapphire
3. Infragistics silverlight controls page: http://labs.infragistics.com/silverlight/
