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Teachers: An Untapped App-Development Resource - 31 Dec 2016 12:22
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[[html]]If you are going to spend time, money and energy designing and developing a mobile app for children on iOS or Android, and then market it as educational and promote it to parents and teachers as a tool to support their child's learning and development the first thing you'd do is engage a educational professional to help with that, wouldn't you?<br><br>You'd think so, but in my work engaging with a large number of app developers who are designing and building apps for children's learning and development, there is a notable absence of educational professionals and people who really understand the development of children and importance of pedagogy. And, people who really understand children's learning and development within a new media context are rare. With the explosion of educational apps, you'd think there would be a raft of ex-teachers and child development psychologists being invited into the app development industry. But, there isn't.<br><br><img src="http://kepran.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Web-Application-Development.png" width="297" /><br><br>This is both a problem, and an opportunity.<br><br>It is a problem because it means we currently have learning and educational tools being developed for mobile devices in isolation from the systems they intend to be used in and without the input from people who understand what children need to learn, how they learn it and have experience planning, designing and creating learning tools for children. We all know the impact a great teacher can have on our lives. Imagine if the ideas and enthusiasm of those great teachers were also captured in the apps our children engage with both inside and outside of school.<br><br>Sure, mobile devices in schools are not yet ubiquitous by any means, but organisations like the New Media Consortium are indicating through their Horizon Report that it is highly likely that they will be. So, the next Horizon is the apps on those devices and while there are some great ones out there — we still have a long way to go.<br><br>Yes, the U.S. Department of Education has invested in the development of apps in education through the 2010 Ready to Learn Grants, but that does not guarantee the companies themselves will seek the advice and input of the best and brightest in the educational world. They need to recognize that good graphics, design and programming is not enough.<br><br>This is where the opportunity kicks in. Technology companies know the importance of engaging with educators, look at Apple's Distinguished Educator program and Google's own model. Consider the hardware producers of interactive whiteboards and projectors and software developers who pay teachers to be part-adviser/part-marketer for their products. There is a roll out there for educators in app development companies. There is a role for people who understand and can apply Gange's Conditions of Learning to 21st century learning technologies. There is a role for people who have the expertise in how children learn and develop. This will help take us beyond apps that simply mirror flash cards and textbooks. Look into the twitter-sphere, there are enough early adopters in the education field to tap in to.<br><br>So, I look forward to seeing the job descriptions being written by app development companies as they identify that engaging teachers from the concept phase in the development of new apps will be how they create a point of difference. Job descriptions that come because app developers recognize that it is great products that rise to the surface in educational markets. To create apps that really support 21st century learning, they need to tap into the skills and knowledge of those who know learning and education best.<br><br><img style="float:left;margin:10px;border:none;" src="http://techno-bliss.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/web-application.jpg" width="335" /><br><br>[[/html]] - Comments: 0
Top child friendly restaurants in Johannesburg (jhb), South Africa, Papachinos, Midrand, Kids - 27 Dec 2016 01:17
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[[html]]Topping the list is the Spur chain of resultants, sure, the food at other places is better, but Spur has stood the test of time. Their solid no frills, wholesome, kind of food your mom makes menu ensures that there is something for everyone.<br><br>They have a branch in just about every neighborhood , I have three in a short driving distance from my home!<br><br>Spur lives up to its tag line as the official restaurant of the South African family, they serve generous portions of food in a friendly and <a href="http://softservedigital.co.za">web development application company</a> relaxing environment.<br><br><img style="float:right;margin:10px;border:none;" src="http://hashtagmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/web_application.jpg" width="333" /><br><br>Most have a dedicated play area with a selection of toys, trampolines, climbing frames, video games, climbing walls, and face painting. They are usually dedicated minders and some have an enclosure for smaller children.<br><br>The relaxed environment and many locations make this the easiest place to go with the family.<br><br>Ones I frequent regularly are;<br><br>7 Eagles Spur<br><br>Shop No. L103<br><br>Greenstone Mall, <br><br>Cnr Modderfontein & Van Riebeeck<br><br>Edenvale<br><br>1609<br><br>Chicago Spur - Closed Down<br><br><object width="400" height="241"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/f0BXe0vvSv4&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/f0BXe0vvSv4&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="241"></embed></object><br><br>Shop 91 - 93 Key West Centre<br><br>43 van Buuren Rd<br><br>Bedfordview<br><br>2008<br><br>Wichita Spur<br><br><img src="http://kepran.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Web-Application-Development.png" width="297" /><br><br>Shop U63/66, Eastgate Shopping Centre<br><br>Bradford Rd<br><br>Bedfordview<br><br>2008<br><br><object width="400" height="241"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6qAcPVaL2lQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6qAcPVaL2lQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="241"></embed></object><br><br>Visit their web site for more information[[/html]] - Comments: 0
CNN.com - Macromedia gives Flash a major overhaul - 25 Dec 2016 16:34
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[[html]]By Matt Berger <br><br>(IDG) — Macromedia on Monday unveiled the newest version of its tools for building Web applications, called Flash MX, along with a number of partnerships with hardware and software makers who will support the new tools.<br><br>Macromedia Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rob Burgess hailed the new version of Flash as the broadest and most radical product the company has ever released.<br><br>"It's really a generation change," Burgess said in an interview.<br><br>Macromedia is positioning Flash MX as an application development environment for building rich Web-based applications rather than just a tool for creating animation clips at Web sites, a stigma that attached itself to the technology as it found acceptance among developers in the early days of the Web.<br><br>The goal is to position Flash as a technology that can be used to build applications that users can interact with over the Internet, such as an order form on a Web site. It's an objective that Macromedia could realize with the latest incarnation of its Flash tool, analysts and users said.<br><br>"If developers start to incorporate Flash MX into Web sites, you're going to start seeing what could be the killer apps for the Internet," said Rikki Kirzner, research director at IDC. "This is really cool stuff."<br><br>One addition to Flash MX allows video to be integrated more easily into a Flash application and viewed on the new version of the Flash Player, which will be released in conjunction with the Flash MX upgrade. That means that when a Web site developed in Flash displays video, it doesn't have to open up a separate media player. Macromedia announced a deal Monday to incorporate video compression technology from Sorenson Media into the player.<br><br>Kirzner, who has seen Flash MX in action, said the technology allows video to be viewed "almost instantly" regardless of what speed a user's Internet connection is running at.<br><br>Flash MX doesn't require the use of any additional media player, and allows video to be compressed into smaller files than other technologies, according to Macromedia. Because of this, Web developers may opt to use Flash instead of competing technologies such as Apple's Quicktime and Microsoft's Windows Media, said Jason Weiner, chief executive officer of San Rafael, Calif., Web development company SON Heavy Industries. Weiner said he used the new Flash tools to develop content for the official Web sites of the 2002 Winter Olympics.<br><br>"Probably the most attractive addition is to be able to stream video through the Flash Player," he said. "You won't see as many people adopting Quicktime or Windows Media because the Flash player is all over the place."<br><br>Another new feature Weiner lauded was an update that allows developers to use a library of pre-built components to build Web applications. For instance, adding a scroll bar or a "buy now" button to an application can be done by dragging and dropping these components onto the page, significantly speeding up the development process, according to Macromedia.<br><br>Jim Whitney, chief technology officer of application development company Webvertising, has created a Web-based reservation system used by nearly 300 hotels with the previous version of Flash. His company recently deployed an updated reservation system for one customer using the Flash MX tools, and he noted a number of benefits.<br><br>Webvertising was able to build the reservation system as a "single-screen experience" so that a user didn't have to navigate several windows in order to make a hotel reservation. Instead, a user can input all of its personal information, credit card information, all on one screen. "What could be a five- to 20-step process, we were able to put on one screen," he said.<br><br>Macromedia said the new Flash Player is designed to do most of the data processing work locally. For instance, when a customer enters personal information into Webvertising's reservation system, the data is sent back to the server only when the order is complete. Similar systems developed using HTML typically send data back to a server multiple times as a user is fills out various parts of an order form, according to Macromedia.<br><br>By migrating to Flash MX from Version 5, Whitney said he was able to cut down on the time it takes to develop the applications. It also reduced the cost of hosting a Web site because there are less transactions taking place between a client machine and the server, and because the software cuts down on the bandwidth needed to run the application.<br><br>Macromedia is banking on the ubiquity of the Flash Player to propel its new technology. About 96 percent of the computers shipped by manufacturers currently include a pre-loaded Flash Player, according to market research from IDC. The Flash Player is the client side application used to view animation created in Flash as well as execute code to run applications developed with Flash.<br><br>Microsoft ships the Flash Player in Windows XP, as do some Linux operating system vendors. Another 2 million to 3 million people download Flash every day, according to Macromedia.<br><br>With Monday's release of Flash MX, Macromedia is also continuing its push to extend the technology beyond PCs. The company announced industry support from makers of set-top box devices, video game consoles, handheld computers and mobile phones. Devices now shipping with the existing Flash Player include Sony's Playstation 2, a set-top box from Moxi Digital, as well as handheld computers that use the Pocket PC operating system.<br><br>Many of the changes in the new version of Flash propel it past competing technologies from Adobe Inc., IDC's Kirzner said. Flash MX also now can compete in a broader market, including the market for tools used to build applications for mobile devices where Java and Windows are widely used today.<br><br>"It sets up sort of a three-company race toward who's going to control the environment where software plays out," said Randy Souza, an analyst with Forrester Research.<br><br>One of those companies is Microsoft, which is developing its .Net initiative to allow applications to be delivered across the Internet. Sun Microsystems Inc. has also been promoting Java <a href="http://softservedigital.co.za/">web application development</a> for building media-rich applications to run on small devices such as cell phones.<br><br>Burgess said Macromedia wasn't trying to unseat Java by allowing developers to build similar video and media applications for small devices. "It's kind of what Java could have been," he said.<br><br>Flash MX is expected to be widely available on March 15, the company said.<br><br>Macromedia also said Monday that it is working on new server software, to be released in the next few months, that will allow developers to build Flash applications that run more efficiently off of a server. It will also allow developers to use Flash for more rich applications, such as teleconferencing.<br><br>The next release of Macromedia's ColdFusion server software, which hosts Flash applications, will also include new support for standard technologies being adopted to deliver services over the Internet such as XML, the company said.<br><br>"The Flash player will provide a user interface that can talk back to a server," Burgess said. "Over time we'll be able to deliver Web services to PCs and wireless devices."[[/html]] - Comments: 0
Web Application Development Company - 15 Dec 2016 05:06
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[[html]]Dot Technologies is outsourcing web Development Company with 2 years of experience and having its offices in India & UK. Dot Technologies provides quality and affordable services of Web development, Content Management System, E-Commerce Solutions, Enterprise Portal solutions and all type of Custom Web services to various clients across the globe. Our company specializes in Enterprise Web Application customization and web development services.<br><br>Dot Technologies is providing affordable, custom and quality Web Development and Software Development services across the world with latest and emerging Web Technologies. Dot Technologies invites to its website visitors to outsource their Web Design, Software Development and SEO projects with us and save their money because we are providing affordable and quality Web applications and Software development services for our clients.<br><br>Dot Technologies - Offshore web application Development Company having satisfied clients in UK, USA & India is a professional service provider for outsourced web development projects around the world. Our company has gained a lot of experience and reviews in the fields of professional web application project development services. Our core capability area is web development and we provide professional level services of website designing, custom software development and affordable SEO packages.<br><br>Businesses today need to rethink everyday: the business, the partnerships, and what the customers want. Technology has brought collaboration to whole new levels. Dot Technologies - Company is a catalyst that helps embrace collaboration and deliver Professional Web Design, Web Promotion, outsourcing SEO and Software Development solutions that helps companies stay vibrant.<br><br>Dot Technologies has a result-oriented team under one roof that comprises of Software / Web / Share Point Consultants, Creative Designers, Developers, SEO Experts, Content Writers, Programmers, Software Developers and Marketing professionals. Our team has flexibility to work with the clients in a way that meets client's objectives. We provide extensive customer support to ensure client satisfaction with the design, functionality and results expected from the site.<br><br>With our strategically located software development/ web design/ web marketing centers in UK and India, we can provide high quality, mission critical, rapid time-to-market Web Design, and Software Development and SEO solutions on time and within budget.<br><br><img style="float:left;margin:10px;border:none;" src="http://www.elanceit.com/assets/wd/web-app.jpg" width="348" /><br><br>Dot Technologies Professionals are specialized in domains like outsourced web application development, sotware development & database development solutions.<br><br>If you are looking for Custom web development company India, UK, USA, Canada, UAE, Australia, Delhi, Mumbai, London or from any where in the world get free quote today for quality and affordable development services from us.<br><br>Please Visit our site and contact us today to know, "Why our software development Company is the right choice for your projects?"<br><br><a href='http://www.selfgrowth.com/print/2907181'>http://www.selfgrowth.com/print/2907181</a><br><br>[[/html]] - Comments: 0
Saucon Technologies Changes Web Application Development Landscape With a New Open-Source Project Called Japple. - 16 Nov 2016 21:44
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[[html]] <br><br>Business & Technology Editors <br><br>LinuxWorld New York 2002 <br><br>NEW YORK(BUSINESS WIRE)Jan. 28, 2002 <br><br>Saucon Technologies (www.saucontech.com), an e-business solutions provider based in Bridgewater, NJ, announced today that it is making one of its key innovations available to the open-source community. <br><br>Japple enables application developers to create and deploy web applications faster, easier, and more efficiently than traditional methods. <br><br>Faster. Japple solves many of the common problems facing web application development today by codifying industry best practices in an easy to use framework. The framework itself provides a majority of the application. This allows the developer to focus on the business problem at hand, leading to faster implementation. <br><br>Easier. Web application development is a complex interaction of industry standards, protocols, programming languages, markup languages, query languages and content creation tools. Japple helps manage this complexity by providing an abstraction layer for organizing development artifacts called Japple Managed Objects (JMOs). JMOs enable loose coupling throughout applications, making it easier to adapt to changing requirements. <br><br>More Efficient. The Japple architecture establishes a clean separation of concerns for interface designers, application developers, and programmers. Japple Templates are a unique way to code Java Server Pages without having to inline HTML markup. Java programmers create Japple Services that application developers can reuse across applications. Teamwork is more efficient with Japple. <br><br>William French, Saucon Technologies CEO, stated, "Saucon Technologies is proud to announce that it is making Japple open-source. Not only is it the right thing for us to do as responsible citizens of the community, it also places Japple under the scrutiny and use of the best of the best. I believe that those who explore Japple will agree that we have developed something revolutionary and powerful." <br><br>William G. Thompson, Jr., Chief Japple Evangelist, added, "Our intent is to grow a global creative and collaborative community around Japple. Today we launched www.japple.org, where folks can download source code and binaries, read documentation, and join the Japple mailing lists." <br><br>Saucon Technologies is holding a Birds-of-a-Feather session at Linux World Expo on Thursday night, January 31st, 2002 in room 1E18. The session will highlight the Japple architecture and introduce this new project to the open-source community. <br><br>For questions about the Japple project, please contact: William G. Thompson, Jr., Chief Japple Evangelist, Saucon Technologies moc.hcetnocuas|nospmohtb#moc.hcetnocuas|nospmohtb - + 1.908.947.7145 <br><br>Notes to Editors: <br><br>Japple is a web-based technology developed by Saucon Technologies. It has been successfully used in enterprise class applications and continues to be refined and enhanced. Written in Java, Japple has been successfully deployed on a variety of hardware and software platforms including Jakarta Tomcat, iPlanet, IBM WebSphere, and BEA Weblogic. <br><br>About Saucon Technologies <br><br>Saucon Technologies is an e-business solutions provider that specializes in delivering enterprise class applications with impact, velocity and accuracy. Saucon Technologies solutions solve many of the problems businesses face today with highly scalable, open standard, component-based web applications and services. Founded in 1997, Saucon Technologies is a privately owned company with offices in Bridgewater, NJ, Center Valley, PA and Dublin, Ireland.<br><br>[[/html]] - Comments: 0
Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium Review - 12 Nov 2016 06:27
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[[html]]Between my computer at work and the one at home, my tablet and my smartphone, the bits and pieces of information created and collected are getting harder and harder to keep track of. I imagine it's like being a mom to teenage kids. You know they exist, but damn it if they ever come home for dinner. Wouldn't it be nice to get everyone around the table once in a while?<br><br>Microsoft's equivalent of home base is the recently released Office 365 Home Premium, a subscription cloud service that allows anytime-anywhere access to your documents, across multiple devices. The main idea being that what you start on one device, whether a Word doc or PowerPoint presentation, can be picked up on another, exactly where you left off.<br><br>An Office that Lives in the Cloud <br><br>Microsoft bills the service as a "complete office in the cloud" and its strength is twofold: Subscribers get to use Microsoft's premier productivity suite while having multiple options for accessing their work. Besides local access, subscribers can get their content through one of three online platforms: Office.com, SkyDrive or Office on Demand. Having choices is convenient when you're on the go, especially when a lot of us are already working away from our desks - on a laptop at the coffee shop, a tablet on the plane, jotting quick notes on our smartphone.<br><br>A subscription is $100 a year and allows you to install Office 365 Home Premium on up to five devices. For college students and faculty, Office 365 University is essentially the same service, but installable on up to two devices. It retails for $80 for a four-year subscription.<br><br>MORE: Microsoft's Next Tablet: Surface Pro<br><br>Users have access to the latest versions of Microsoft's flagship applications: Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Outlook, Access, Publisher and OneNote are also included. When updates are released, subscribers receive them automatically.<br><br>Similar Look and Feel<br><br>But even with all these new connected features (more on that coming below), Office and all those included programs are still desktop programs, with a similar look and feel to Microsoft's previous version of Office. Microsoft has added a couple of tweaks, however. The ribbon, the toolbar that lines the top of each program with formatting and other tools, is now collapsed automatically, giving you more more space to just focus on your document, spreadsheet or presentation. Click on one of the menus and the ribbon with all its features and tools will appear.<br><br>One of the biggest changes to this version is the "tablet mode" setting. Given that Windows 8 was built around touch, the new setting adjusts the spacing of menus, making it easier to hit the targets. It's helpful, but the program is still very much built for mouse and keyboard input.<br><br>Synced Files and Settings <br><br>When you first install Office 365 Home Premium, you're asked to create or sign in with an existing Microsoft account (which can be the same as your log-in for other Microsoft products and services like Hotmail or Xbox Live). If you don't already have one, go ahead and create an account, it'll make it easier to sync your settings and content across all devices. I used my SkyDrive log-in, since I already have an account with the free online cloud storage service. Office 365 Home Premium subscribers get 20 GB of SkyDrive storage, compared with the free 7GB allotted to regular SkyDrive users.<br><br>Also new to Office is the ability for users to sign in, both within applications like Word or through their web browsers at Office.com, to access customized settings for each application. These are things like personalized background styles, ribbon setup, etc. As long as you're signed in, your settings will carry over to the platform you're working on. It's a nice touch, but not the most essential feature unless you're super picky about how your toolbars are laid out. I personally care more about features and functionality.<br><br>Using Office.com, it's easy to see at a glance all of your documents, spreadsheets and presentations under the "My Office" section. The clean, uncluttered layout looks great, but organizing and syncing your documents between Office.com and SkyDrive can be confusing. For example, I wasn't able to create new folders in "My Office" to throw existing docs into. New folders have to be created from within the program applications, but when I created a folder and added an existing doc in SkyDrive, it didn't immediately sync to Office.com. Although I could see the doc in Office.com, I got a message saying it was no longer available when I attempted to open it. All edits and changes to content should sync with versions that live elsewhere, but there's definitely a bit of a learning curve when it comes to figuring out how one cloud platform communicates with the other.<br><br>When you open a document within Office.com, you have the option of editing it in the full-fledged application (if it lives on your device) or within the web browser, using an abbreviated "web app" version of that application. Either way, all changes will sync to SkyDrive. I tested the cloud syncing using a Samsung ATIV Smart PC with Office 365 installed locally and ran into issues only once while working in Word. At one point, the cloud syncing of my edits stalled, but this could have been due to my weak WiFi signal or the device's battery, which was on its last legs. I was charger-less and when my device shut itself down, my edits hadn't completely synced to SkyDrive.<br><br>Luckily, an offline copy was saved. Still, it's disappointing when compared to the almost instantaneous auto-saving of web apps like Google Docs. With Office 365, your work has to be actively saved as you go.<br><br>MORE: Microsoft's Windows 8 — Everything You Need to Know <br><br>On the flip side, the limitations of competing web apps like Google's means that users have to contend with water-downed versions of Word or Excel, whereas Microsoft's web apps definitely feel more robust in terms of features and functionality.<br><br>Sharing and collaborating with others can also be enabled through Office.com and SkyDrive, although real-time edits and changes aren't obvious at first. If two or more people are working on a document at the same time, each person has to click "Save" to see the most recent edits appear. An easy-to-miss message at the bottom of the window states "Updates Available" to alert you to new edits, but these still won't appear in the document until you click "Save" to refresh. It all feels a bit counterintuitive to the collaboration process.<br><br>Office on Demand<br><br>Signing into Office.com also allows you to stream a full-featured version of Office to any PC running Windows 7 or 8. It's a service dubbed Office on Demand, and is ideal when you're using a PC that isn't your own, say, at a hotel or different office within your company. I tried using Office on Demand to stream the full version of Word to a Surface RT tablet, hoping since it already ran Windows 8, it might recognize the tablet as a PC. It didn't work. My documents opened in Word's web app instead. Office on Demand is a novel feature, but could potentially be hampered by the unpredictability of users running into PCs with older, incompatible versions of Windows.<br><br>One cool feature of Office 365 is the ability to access documents even if they aren't already stored in the cloud. By downloading the SkyDrive desktop app at work, you can remotely fetch docs that live on your home PC for example, in case you didn't them initially sync them to SkyDrive. A few caveats though, the remote PC you're accessing has to be turned on, connected to the internet and have SkyDrive running with the "Fetch Files" setting enabled.<br><br>Bottom Line<br><br>So is it worth paying Microsoft $99.99 a year for a version of Office that is connected and constantly evolving?<br><br>Office 365 Home Premium is a great value for families who are going to install it on multiple machines and makes sense for busy professionals who work frequently on the go, but the typical PC user might find that sticking to the previous version of Office and using SkyDrive separately to store and access their most important documents in the cloud, works just as well.[[/html]] - Comments: 0
Windows 8: 8 Things You Need to Know About Using Microsoft's New OS - 10 Nov 2016 15:59
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[[html]]Windows 8 — Microsoft's new operating system for tablets and computers — is beautiful, exciting and fun. Oh, and completely confusing, at least for first-time users.<br><br>(More information and examples of that confusing part here.)<br><br>The operating system becomes second nature after using it for a while, but some of the features need pointing out before you master them. Microsoft says it is addressing explaining the change through information on its website and some ads, but before you pick up a Windows 8 tablet, laptop, tablet-laptop hybrid, etc., you'll want to know exactly what you're in for by watching the video above and reading the 8 things below. <br><br>Start Screen Is the New Home Base<br><br>The start screen is the first thing you'll see when you boot up a Windows 8 computer. This horizontal grid of tiles is really the new desktop. It's home base. Yes, there is still the old desktop, but you get to that by clicking an icon on the new Start Screen. <br><br>The start screen houses all your apps and they appear as what Microsoft calls "live tiles." The tiles show you exactly what is going on in an app. For instance, the weather app will show the temperature in your location right on the tile. Tap on a tile or app and it will take you into the full-screen app. <br><br>Charms: Swipe From the Right<br><br>The start screen is only one of your best friends in Windows 8. You're also going to get very close with the "charms." Once you launch an app it will take up the entire screen; there isn't a task bar at the bottom anymore to get you back to another menu or program. <br><br>Instead you can swipe from the right edge of the screen to bring up the charms, a set of short cuts, including a Windows button to get back to the start screen. You can get to the charms from any possible screen. Just swipe from the right edge if you have a touch screen. If you are using a mouse, hover the cursor in the upper-right corner. <br><br>Get Apps From the Microsoft Store<br><br>At this point, you're realizing Windows 8 is all about the apps — beautiful, full-screen apps. You're also probably wondering: Where do I get those apps? <br><br>Microsoft's store comes preloaded on all Windows 8 computers and appears on an app on the start screen. When you download an app, it is also added to the start screen. Microsoft says it will be adding key apps to the store over the next few days as the operating system launches. <br><br>Organizing the Start Screen<br><br>When apps are added to the start screen you can easily organize them. Hold an app, drag it and you can move it. You can even change the size of the tile by pulling down on it and hitting the resize button. <br><br>You can also pinch on the entire screen to see a birds-eye view of the start screen and then move apps and put them into different categories. You can rename categories or clusters of apps by pulling down; you'll get a field for inputting the name of the category. <br><br>App Controls: Swipe From the Edges<br><br>You will spend most of your time in the very attractive apps, and you don't always have to go back to the start screen to get to open apps. Swiping from the left edge in will bring in an already open app and you can cycle through the one you want to keep on the screen. When you are in an app, you swipe from the top and bottom to bring up menus, and you swipe from the left to switch the app you are in. <br><br>You don't have to choose one app to have open at all times. As you swipe the app in from the left, you can hold it and lock it next to another app so you have two apps side by side. You can adjust the size of the apps, too, so one takes up a quarter of the screen while the other takes up the rest. It's a pretty neat trick and great for keeping your e-mail on one side of the screen and a website or document on the other. <br><br>You're probably wondering how you close apps if they are full screen. Swipe from the top down in an app and drag the app all the way down the screen, and you can close the app. It takes a bit of getting used to and you have to hold down rather hard at the top of the screen so it doesn't think you are trying to access a menu. If you are on the desktop and running a desktop app, you can just hit the red X. <br><br>In the Corners: Mouse and Keyboard<br><br>This last tip might be the most important thing you should know about Windows 8: It is meant for computers and tablets with touch screens, but also computers that use a mouse and keyboard. While most of the previous tips focus on touch gestures on the edges of the screen, your mouse can bring up those shortcuts by hovering in the corners of the screen. The top and bottom corner bring up the charms on right and the bottom left brings up a shortcut to the start menu. You can swipe in apps from the left by holding your mouse on the left hand side of the screen. <br><br><a href='http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/windows-things-microsofts-os/story?id=17570782'>http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/windows-things-microsofts-os/story?id=17570782</a>[[/html]] - Comments: 0
CNN - Web development software: Tools of the trade - 29 Oct 2016 08:26
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[[html]]<img src="http://www.cnn.com/TECH/images/1998/05/sci-tech.computing.story.gif" width="241" height="16" border="0" alt="COMPUTING"/><br clear="ALL"/><br><br>July 2, 1999<br><br>Web posted at: 5:13 p.m. EDT (2113 GMT)<br><br>by Paul Ferrill <br><br>From…<br><br><img src="http://www.cnn.com/TECH/images/9801/computing/logo_us_fcw-cnn.gif" alt="Federal Computer Week" border="0" height="42" width="113"/><br><br>(IDG) — It's a modern-day equivalent of the chicken-and-egg riddle: Do most agencies have their own World Wide Web sites because tools have been developed to make it easy to design attractive Web sites? Or were the tools developed to serve the growing popularity of the Web? <br><br>Whatever the answer may be, the fact remains: Webmasters in government no longer have to struggle with editing Hypertext Markup Language pages in word processors. Generating attractive and functional Web pages, complete with Dynamic HTML and JavaScript elements, can be about as easy as creating a text document. <br><br>This review looks at five Web publishing tools that offer capabilities that early Web page designers could only dream about. Our primary focus in evaluating each of the products was threefold: How easy does the product make it to create Web pages? What database connectivity does the product offer? And what site-management tools come with the product? <br><br>Several of the products really shine in regard to database connectivity. Others stand out in creating visually appealing pages but are not suited for the beginning Web designer. Choosing the right tool will depend on the application and the users. <br><br>The contenders <br><br>Microsoft Corp.'s FrontPage 2000 was the strongest product we tested in the three focal areas. NetObjects Inc.'s NetObjects Fusion 4.0 was a distant second but did well in page creation and site management. Allaire Corp.'s ColdFusion Studio 4.0 is strong in database connectivity but a little weak in other areas. Macromedia Inc.'s Dreamweaver 2.0 is the most capable product for page creation but has capabilities that require an experienced Web developer to fully leverage. SoftQuad Software Inc.'s HotMetal Pro 5.0 provides a few capabilities not found in any of the other programs but does not match up to the rest in the focus areas. <br><br>ColdFusion Studio 4.0 <br><br>Mention "ColdFusion" and many people will think of the Web server add-on or ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML). But the ColdFusion line is much broader than that. <br><br>If all you want to do is build Web pages, you can use ColdFusion Studio. But if you want to implement server-side features such as interacting with databases and using forms, you will need the ColdFusion server. A single-user version of the server comes with ColdFusion Studio, but that really only suffices for site design. If you want to deploy the pages, you will need the ColdFusion Enterprise Server. <br><br>Installing ColdFusion Studio is a simple process of inserting the CD-ROM and answering a series of questions. Two installations are required for the Web development environment and the server. Still, the product was installed in less than 20 minutes with no problems. <br><br>While several of the other Web publishing tools in this review focus on delivering visually compelling pages, ColdFusion Studio is geared toward making it easier to build sophisticated, form-based, interactive Web pages. Still, the sheer number of buttons, tabs and options was a little overwhelming at first. <br><br>Among ColdFusion's most attractive features are its shared project management and client/server utilities. Individual proj-ects store the information about all the pages for a particular site and allow you to deploy an entire Web site with a single command. A Site View tab provides an organizational chart view of the structure of a project. A Verify Links function enables you to check for broken references. <br><br>ColdFusion includes source control commands for application development such as file check-in/check-out, version maintenance and project management. The only catch is that ColdFusion relies on an external program, such as Microsoft's Visual SourceSafe, Merant International Ltd.'s PVCS or StarBase Corp.'s Versions to do the real work. <br><br>ColdFusion shines the brightest in the creation of sophisticated database-driven Web pages. Building Web pages using CFML in conjunction with a ColdFusion server offers a viable alternative to traditional client/server application development. The IDE provides all the tools you need to create forms using all the standard elements, such as buttons, grids, list boxes, text boxes, tree controls and tables. <br><br>Complex queries using Structured Query Language (SQL) are a snap to build and test using the Visual Query Builder. Combining user input with a predefined query makes it easy to build pages that let users select the data they want to see from a database. There also is an interactive debugger that makes developing and debugging complex, data-driven Web pages possible. <br><br>ColdFusion is clearly the most capable package we tested when it comes to developing database-driven Web-based applications. While it does not include a built-in source-code-control facility, it does provide many solid site-management functions. About the only shortcoming of the product is in page creation. Compared with NetObjects' Fusion or Microsoft's FrontPage, ColdFusion's page-creation process is about a generation behind. Operations such as positioning an image anywhere you want on a page - as you would with a desktop publishing program - are not supported. And you do not have the same level of control over elements such as buttons and animated images that a program such as Dreamweaver provides. <br><br>Still, if you need a tool to build Web pages that interact with an external database, you will want to give ColdFusion a good look. <br><br>Dreamweaver 2.0 <br><br>Macromedia's Dreamweaver 2.0 probably is the most adept of the programs reviewed at creating visually stimulating Web pages. The product supports Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) - a proposed industry standard for defining the layout and style of HTML pages - along with Dynamic HTML and JavaScript. Those features, along with the ability to integrate with Macromedia products including Director, Fireworks and Flash, make it a powerful tool in the hands of an accomplished Web designer. <br><br>The power of the product, however, comes at the expense of simplicity. Anyone new to the Web publishing game will require some time to get up to speed with Dreamweaver. <br><br>Creating Web pages with Dreamweaver is a lot like building a page in a high-end desktop publishing package. Dreamweaver gives you complete control over image location, text layout and visual effects. Template files make it easy to create pages with a consistent look and feel. <br><br>Dreamweaver contains many features that make a Web designer's job much easier. A floating toolbar makes it possible to drag and drop elements onto a Web page. Adding objects involves selecting the icon for an image, table, form element, rollover image or plug-in and dropping it on the screen. A box in the status bar at the bottom of the main screen shows you how long the page will take to download by end users at the default connection speed. <br><br>Dreamweaver's Site Map view shows the local site as a visual map of linked icons. The map makes it easy to add new files or to add, modify or remove links. A file check-in/check-out feature forces users into a configuration-management scheme that keeps master copies of your site on a remote server while users make changes offline. The same feature makes it easy to see when someone else is working on a file. <br><br>One of Dreamweaver's most useful features lets users perform global search-and-replace operations across all files in an entire site. You can even search for HTML tags and attributes if you want to change how your site looks. Several utilities help you check for and fix broken links as well as test your site for cross-browser compatibility. <br><br>Connecting to external databases is not one of Dreamweaver's strong points. In fact, the basic product has no built-in database connectivity options at all. Several options exist in the form of add-ons from the installation CD-ROM. One of those options allows you to connect to a ColdFusion server and exchange data that way. Macromedia also has announced an agreement with Oracle Corp. to provide the ability to exchange data with the Oracle8i Web-based database system. <br><br>In short, if you are most concerned with creating beautiful Web pages quickly, Dreamweaver is your program. It takes some time to learn, but once you have mastered the nuances of the program, you are ready to create pages that keep visitors returning. If you need database connectivity features, however, you might want to look at one of the other packages in this review. <br><br>FrontPage 2000 <br><br>When Microsoft enters a new market category, the product tends to follow a clear path from bit player to top bill. Such is the case with FrontPage. <br><br>FrontPage 98 is a market leader in terms of sales, despite being the frequent target of criticism from professional Web developers. FrontPage 2000 delivers new enhancements and refinements that will no doubt extend Microsoft's lead in the Web publishing market. <br><br>FrontPage comes as a stand-alone product or bundled with Office 2000. Either way, the installation process is essentially the same. An auto-running CD-ROM launches the installation program after you insert it in the drive. The only additional task after completing the installation process is to load the FrontPage extensions for your Web server. FrontPage 2000 no longer requires these extensions in order to publish Web pages to the server, but they offer some additional functionality if they are installed. <br><br>Microsoft has made the page-creation process much smoother with this version of FrontPage. The software's uncluttered interface makes it extremely easy for a novice to create functional Web pages in a short time. We especially like the way toolbars appropriate to specific objects, such as the image-editing functions, appear only when you select the object. <br><br>FrontPage 2000 ships with 60 predesigned themes that provide a consistent look and feel across all pages in a Web site, and you can easily customize any of the themes. One of the complaints about earlier versions of FrontPage was that it modified HTML files that were not created within the program. FrontPage 2000, however, preserves imported HTML files intact. <br><br>Managing large Web sites has been a strong feature of FrontPage since the early versions. FrontPage 2000 is no exception, with new features supporting group collaboration, file check-in/check-out, workflow reports for managing team development and seamless integration with other Microsoft management tools. <br><br>FrontPage 2000 automatically checks for broken links. When any Web page or graphic is moved or renamed, FrontPage automatically fixes the links to it. An Edit Hyperlink dialog box makes it possible to change a specific link on an individual or group of selected pages. <br><br>Another strength of FrontPage 2000 is its ability to build dynamic Web pages that interact with external databases. The best interaction is with other Microsoft database products, such as Access and SQL Server, but you can connect to any Open Database Connectivity-compliant data source. We found especially useful the new one-button database publishing feature, which lets you create an Access database from within FrontPage. <br><br>One new feature of FrontPage 2000 is the ability to create a Web page built dynamically from a database query each time the page is entered or refreshed. Microsoft uses Active Server Pages to drive this feature, so you'll need a server that supports ASP server-side scripting. The Database Results Wizard makes the creation of database queries quick and painless. The only catch is that the resulting Web page will only run on a Web server that supports ASPs. <br><br>FrontPage 2000 offers special appeal to anyone using the Microsoft Office suite, thanks to its tight integration. But even for non-Office users, FrontPage is an easy-to-use and powerful option. <br><br>NetObjects Fusion 4.0 <br><br>NetObjects Fusion 4.0 is one of the easier-to-use Web publishing tools tested in this review. New users can get up to speed in a short time building useful and aesthetically pleasing sites. Available database connectivity options provide a basic capability for generating dynamic Web pages from an external source. <br><br>Creating Web pages with Fusion was a pleasure. NetObjects went to a lot of trouble to make the page-creation process as straightforward as possible. The tools for creating consistent navigation and page layout were intuitive and easy to use. <br><br>However, ease of use does not mean lack of control over the details of how a page looks. Fusion gives you complete control over placing frames, images, tables and text exactly where you want them. <br><br>It also makes it easy to do things such as crop or resize an image once you have placed it on a page. <br><br>Fusion includes templates for creating basic Internet and intranet Web sites. You also can create a new Web site based on an existing site locally or from the Internet. It is also easy to modify an existing style to adapt it to individual tastes. <br><br>The first thing you see in Fusion when you choose to create a new site is the site view. All pages in your Web site appear as symbols in a structure that resembles an organizational chart. You also can use a Microsoft Internet Explorer-like view, with pages listed in a small panel to the left and contents displayed in the main panel. Adding pages to the site is as easy as clicking on the New button. To alter the site structure, simply click on a page or group of pages and then drag and drop them where you want. <br><br>Publishing a site to a production server is another simple task. Once you fill out the Preferences tab describing how to connect to your server, simply click on the Publish button. An Explorer-like list displays when each page was published locally and remotely. About the only thing Fusion is lacking in the site-management area is a tool for managing source control of large projects. <br><br>Fusion ships with two add-on options for connecting to an external database using Allaire's ColdFusion server or Microsoft's Internet Information Server. The Cold-Fusion Connector Wizard makes it easy to build dynamically populated lists, create data-entry forms and display results from database queries. You will need a ColdFusion server running locally or remotely to service the pages you build. <br><br>Connecting to a Microsoft IIS server is a snap with the ASP connector. Unfortunately, you only will be able to create pages that display lists of database information as an HTML table or a single record at a time of user-defined fields. Anything more complicated than that will require an external development environment, such as Microsoft's Visual Interdev. Using the ASP connector, you can generate a simple table listing the contents of an Access database file on an IIS server in less than 10 minutes. <br><br>NetObjects Fusion was, in short, a pleasant surprise in a crowded field of contenders. The page-layout and link-checking features make it possible to develop solid Web sites in a short time. With support for ASP and ColdFusion servers, you should have a couple of options for connecting to outside data. Overall, this program is worthy of consideration. <br><br>HotMetal Pro 5.0 <br><br>HotMetal Pro 5.0 from SoftQuad is the least-expensive product that we tested. The low price does not mean a shortage of features, however. HotMetal Pro 5.0 includes templates and wizards for quick Web site creation along with site-management and administration tools for managing large projects. The product is not without its faults, though; the program crashed multiple times. <br><br>The installation process was relatively painless. HotMetal Pro does require that Microsoft's ODBC manager be installed if you want to use the Database Import Wizard. Fortunately, the CD-ROM includes the ODBC setup files. The basic installation process installs a copy of the HotMetal personal server. Personal server is a scaled-down version of SoftQuad's application server that supports the proprietary Miva scripting language. <br><br>Generating a site from scratch is a breeze with the Site Maker Wizard. The wizard offers three types of basic sites: business, intranet and personal. After you answer all of the wizard's questions, it creates a project with all the files required for the new site. You then edit each page to customize it for your purposes. <br><br>One nice feature of HotMetal Pro is the ability to open files in different formats and include them in a Web site. Supported file formats include Word, WordPerfect, Ami Pro, Rich Text Format and CSS documents. Saving a file converts the original into HTML format. <br><br>HotMetal Pro has tools to help you manage your site. The project screen displays all the files associated with a particular project. A Page Links window shows how the different pages link together in a graphical screen and enables you to make changes using a drag-and-drop approach. The Site Doctor dialog box activates when you make a change on the Page Links window and takes care of fixing links affected by moving files around. <br><br>HotMetal Pro offers several ways to extract data from a database and present it on a Web page. <br><br>One method is to use the Insert Database Table menu option. Selecting this menu item displays a Database Import Wizard enabling you to connect to data stored in an Access database, an Excel spreadsheet, an ASCII text file or any ODBC-compliant data source. The only drawback is that this approach creates a Web page as a static snapshot of the data, so you have to re-create the page if the source data changes.<br><br>Ferrill, based at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., is a principal engineer with Avionics Test & Analysis Corp. He can be reached at ten.flug.bwf|llirrefp#ten.flug.bwf|llirrefp.<br><br>RELATED STORIES:<br><br>Software support lags Windows 2000 effort<br><br>June 15, 1999<br><br>Software pirates go slow<br><br>June 1, 1999<br><br>Big software struggles with open source<br><br>April 12, 1999<br><br>RELATED IDG.net STORIES:<br><br>How we tested Web development tools<br><br>(FCW)<br><br>PDF chart comparing Web development tools<br><br>(FCW)<br><br>XML and Java: A powerful combination<br><br>(JavaWorld)<br><br>Spotlight on skills: Internet/Web<br><br>(InfoWorld)<br><br>XML delivers on its promise<br><br>(CIO)<br><br>The top 50: Leaders of the Web pack strut their stuff<br><br>(CIO)<br><br>Year 2000 World<br><br>(IDG.net)<br><br>Note: Pages will open in a new browser window<br><br>External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.<br><br>RELATED SITES:<br><br>Allaire: ColdFusion 4.0<br><br>Macromedia Dreamweaver<br><br>Microsoft FrontPage<br><br>NetObjects, Inc.<br><br>SoftQuad Software Inc., HoTMetaL PRO 5.0 <br><br>Note: Pages will open in a new browser window<br><br>External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.[[/html]] - Comments: 0
Rich Web Applications: the business benefits of Web-enabled application development. - 27 Oct 2016 18:01
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[[html]]MANAGEMENT SUMMARY<br><br>CATALYST <br><br> <br><br>Rich Web Applications (RWAs) are browser-based, Rich Internet <br><br>Applications (RIAs). They exploit new Application Programming Interfaces <br><br>(APIs) in browsers that allow users to interact with a page on the Web <br><br>as they would a desktop application. The conjunction of RWA, Web 2.0 for <br><br>business (or Enterprise Web 2.0), and evolutionary changes in IT <br><br>infrastructure like Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), are creating <br><br>new opportunities for business. Note on terminology: The IT industry <br><br>uses the terms RIA and RWA interchangeably; however, we make a technical <br><br>distinction in this Report. RIA applies to any client-server system connected by the Internet, whereas RWA covers a sub-set of RIA that is <br><br>World Wide Web browser-based. <br><br> <br><br>Key Findings <br><br> <br><br>* RIA will be the default mode in application development as the <br><br>Internet further progresses its transition from technology to part of <br><br>the fabric of everyday society. <br><br> <br><br>* RWA and Web 2.0 ideas are being transferred to Enterprise Web <br><br>2.0, opening up new business opportunities, such as rapid business <br><br>process development and reuse. <br><br> <br><br>* Security deficiencies mean that mixing Web services (or mashing) <br><br>in Enterprise Web 2.0-type applications cannot yet extend safely beyond <br><br>the firewall. <br><br> <br><br>* Currently, businesses need separate security policies for <br><br>Internet and Intranet Web services. Intranet Web services must never be <br><br>risked beyond the firewall and therefore need to be governed. <br><br> <br><br><object width="400" height="241"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mzT7etWjj0Q&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mzT7etWjj0Q&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="241"></embed></object><br><br>* The progress of SOA and Business Process Management (BPM) into<br><br>the enterprise will require presentation-layer applications, for which<br><br>RWA are ideal.<br><br>* RIA will feed into other areas of IT, so that Web-enabled IT <br><br>products will have richer user interfaces; for example, in Business <br><br>Intelligence. <br><br> <br><br>* Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) will be given a significant <br><br>technology enhancement by RWA, making it more attractive to customers. <br><br> <br><br>* RWAs are now on the boundary between early adopter and early <br><br>mainstream stages. <br><br> <br><br>The Internet is transforming society and business. The current wave <br><br>of this technology revolution, called Web 2.0, followed the initial wave <br><br>(Web 1.0) that collapsed with the dot.com boom and bust. Today, <br><br>'always-on', pervasive broadband is making access to the <br><br>Internet easy enough for it to be no longer considered as a <br><br>'technology' but a part of the fabric of modern living, like <br><br>the telephone or television. The key advantages of using the Internet <br><br>can be summed up as 'always on and everywhere', reachable from <br><br>mobile devices, laptops, and desktop machines. <br><br> <br><br>Innovations in modern browsers allowed vendors to build the first <br><br>RWA: applications which could split the application logic between <br><br>presentation logic that runs on the client-side and business logic and <br><br>data models that run on the server-side. The rich Web application User <br><br>Interface (UI) is as 'rich' as in desktop applications, and <br><br>runs in the browser using a combination of languages. One of the <br><br>pioneering vendorsAdaptive Systemscalled this approach Asynchronous JavaScript And XML (AJAXalthough the preferred naming culture is now <br><br>just Ajax). All modern browsers support JavaScript and this means that <br><br>with Ajax there is just a small JavaScript rendering engine which is <br><br>downloaded and held in memory while the application is running. <br><br> <br><br>Today, additional technologies compete with Ajax to provide a <br><br>similar concept of desktop-like behaviour, but with superior multimedia <br><br>capabilitiesbrowser plug-ins such as Adobe Flash Player and, the <br><br>recent entrant to the market, Microsoft Silverlight. In addition, RWA <br><br>solutions are also possible with the Java platform and with Microsoft <br><br>.NET Framework version 3. <br><br> <br><br>Business Issues <br><br> <br><br>The Web is increasingly important for business. A measure of how <br><br>business has turned to this medium is revealed by the latest advertising <br><br>expenditure figures. They show that for the first time, on-line <br><br>advertising in the UK has exceeded that of national newspapers, at <br><br>UK[pounds sterling]2 billion. It is also the fastest growing at 41%, <br><br>when TV, the highest sector, is showing a small decline. This level of <br><br>advertising is rewarding UK business with on-line retail revenue <br><br>earnings of UK[pounds sterling]3.6 billion in 2006 (according to IMRG). <br><br>Furthermore, the Web is almost the equal to TV in holding on to <br><br>peoples' time, making it the place to reach out to new and existing <br><br>consumers. This business activity is just one indication of why the Web <br><br>is important for business. Businesses need to devise a Web strategy, and <br><br>the question of using RWA, as well as experimenting with Web 2.0 <br><br>concepts, should be part of the consideration process. The implications <br><br>of RWA for business are multi-fold and can be summarised as follows: <br><br> <br><br>* Internal use of RWA for providing the presentation layer to SOA.<br><br>* Internal use of RWA for providing the presentation layer in <br><br>composite applications, such as mixing Web services and other data <br><br>sources, including enterprise applications and legacy systems. <br><br> <br><br>* Helping re-engineer business processes for rapid reaction to <br><br>business opportunities. <br><br> <br><br>* Moving application development from silo, departmental activity, <br><br>to a Web-based one with greater potential for reuse. For example, an <br><br>internal Software-as-a-Service model. <br><br> <br><br>* New security risks related to RWA that need addressing. <br><br> <br><br>The drivers behind consumer-led Web 2.0 are also relevant to <br><br>businesses: these concepts are being transferred to what is called <br><br>'Enterprise Web 2.0'. Table 1 shows the distinguishing <br><br>features of Web 2.0, compared with the first wave of Web development, <br><br>and these include: <br><br> <br><br>* Multimedia content in contrast with document-centric HyperText <br><br>Markup Language (HTML). <br><br> <br><br>* Facilities for users to upload as well as download; for example, <br><br>the growth of Flickr, Friends Reunited, MySpace, Wikipedia, and YouTube <br><br>are all due to user-added content. <br><br> <br><br>* The Internet becomes the 'platform' with mashups that <br><br>combine Web services to create new applications; for example, Bikely <br><br>mashes Google maps to help plan bicycle routes, and Zillow mashes maps <br><br>and real-estate information. <br><br> <br><br>* Applications are no longer constrained by HTML and single-channel <br><br>response/request; with RIAs a second channel can be used to work in the <br><br>background, managing data more efficiently between client and server, <br><br>while the user interacts with the UI. <br><br> <br><br>* Web 2.0 allows a Web strategy to go beyond simply exploiting <br><br>reach; now Web services and Web applications can be used in unforeseen <br><br>ways, leading to emergent value. <br><br> <br><br>The move within enterprises to SOA and internal Web services <br><br>creates opportunities for Intranet mashups, exploiting reuse to good <br><br>effect and allowing business power users to rapidly respond to business <br><br>opportunities. With Enterprise Web 2.0, power users can transform and <br><br>re-combine internal business processes in new ways. <br><br> <br><br><object width="400" height="241"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZwyjDiikNKk&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZwyjDiikNKk&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="241"></embed></object><br><br>The use of RWA is already evident within the IT industry as, for <br><br>example, Business Intelligence vendors provide the option of Web access <br><br>to applications with rich UIs. RWA also improves the SaaS proposition, <br><br>as application interfaces become comparable to those on the desktop; <br><br>Butler Group expects to see SaaS adoption increase as a result. SaaS is <br><br>a software delivery model where the provider offers a hosted application <br><br>across the Internet. Customers access the application using a Web <br><br>interface and pay for usage according to various licensing models: per <br><br>instance use, per allocated time, or on a subscription basis. The use of <br><br>RWA for the UI offers a considerable way to improve the user experience, <br><br>making SaaS a more attractive proposition. <br><br> <br><br>The concept of mixing Web services, or mashups, is also an <br><br>important part of Web 2.0; for example, geo-mapping information is <br><br>combined with other specialist information to create a new service (e.g. <br><br>www.housingmaps.com combines Google maps and Craigs List rented <br><br>accommodation information to visually show rental availability). <br><br> <br><br>However, addressing security is important if these types of <br><br>applications are to succeed. Businesses need to implement separate <br><br>policies for Internet and Intranet RWA; Internet exposure of Web <br><br>services should not take place without strong security and governance in <br><br>place. <br><br> <br><br>Technology Issues <br><br> <br><br>Software application development is currently going through a <br><br>transition, extending the most common architecture of multi-tier <br><br>client/server, to composite applications and RIA. Of course the idea of <br><br>'client-side' and 'server-side' remains unchanged in <br><br>RIA, but the distinction is that traditional client/server systems are <br><br>separated by Local Area Networks and/or Wide Area Networks, whereas with <br><br>RIA the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) <br><br>protocol is used, whether on the Internet or Intranet. Composite <br><br>applications are built from components, objects, and Web services within <br><br>a loosely-coupled, standardised application environment created by SOA. <br><br>RIAs provide a natural presentation layer for applications built within <br><br>SOA. <br><br> <br><br>The types of RIA fall into three main categories: browser-based <br><br>with no plug-ins; browser-based with plug-ins; and out-of-browser. <br><br>Butler Group uses the term 'RWAs' to refer to browser-based <br><br>RIAs. The open literature uses RIA and RWA interchangeably in an unclear <br><br>manner without distinguishing the possibility for non-Web-related <br><br>protocols that could be used on TCP/IP. However, the market at the <br><br>moment is active mainly with RWA. <br><br> <br><br>Browser-based Applications <br><br> <br><br>Browser-based applications connect to the World Wide Web (Web) <br><br>using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). Most Internet activity <br><br>today revolves around Web sites and Web applications. RWAs using Ajax <br><br>render the presentation in HTML within the browser. Although such <br><br>applications are rich in the UI interaction, they are limited in <br><br>richness of multimedia content. <br><br> <br><br>Browser Plug-ins <br><br> <br><br>Browser plug-ins enhance the functionality available in the browser <br><br>and especially so for multimedia content; examples are Adobe Flash, Java <br><br>Runtime Engine and Applets, and Microsoft Silverlight. <br><br> <br><br>Out-of-browser RIA <br><br> <br><br>The third category of RIA takes the application out of the browser. <br><br>It is possible to build applications that connect via the Internet <br><br>outside the browser using a number of protocols, not just HTTP (the Web <br><br>protocol), and for custom, in-house applications this is an option to be <br><br>considered. There is another mode of use where applications can be taken <br><br>off-line when the user is away from an Internet connectionfor example, <br><br>when working in the field with a customerand then re-connect later to <br><br>synchronise with the back-end. <br><br> <br><br><img src="http://techno-bliss.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/web-application.jpg" width="371" /><br><br>Some of the benefits of working with RIA, explored in greater depth <br><br>in this Report, include: <br><br> <br><br>* Ease of application administration, maintenance, and update <br><br>through a centralised server-side point. <br><br> <br><br>* Ease of application delivery via Internet/Intranet. <br><br> <br><br>* Complements Web services, composite applications, and SOA. <br><br> <br><br>* Encourages reuse through a clear separation of presentation <br><br>layer, business logic, and data model. <br><br> <br><br>* Makes it easy to create a single application with multiple <br><br>presentation client-sides: mobile devices or fixed machines. <br><br> <br><br>* Reduces spread of application viruses through centralised control <br><br>of application on the server-side. <br><br> <br><br>* Can cater for a range of thin to fat options on the client-side. <br><br> <br><br>The versatility that RIAs provide, when combined with other trends <br><br>in the IT infrastructure (such as SOA), will lead to a point, in Butler <br><br>Group's opinion, when RIA will become the default mode of <br><br>application delivery. <br><br> <br><br>An issue of paramount importance is security. However, with RIA the <br><br>onus has shifted back to the client-side, but this time to the <br><br>application itself. In particular, Ajax-based RIAs introduce new attack <br><br>possibilities through the use of malicious JavaScriptthis is not a <br><br>weakness of JavaScript or a problem inherent in Ajax, it is simply that <br><br>browsers were built for a simpler, more constrained display of <br><br>information, and writing secure RIA is difficult for new programmers. <br><br>There are guidelines being published to help educate developers, and <br><br>advanced Ajax frameworks also remove this threat by being built with <br><br>security in mind. The other types of RIA also have robust security, <br><br>including those based on Adobe Flash, the Java platform, and Microsoft <br><br>.NET. <br><br> <br><br>Butler Group advocates creating separate Web services and RIA <br><br>policies for Intranet and Internet use; in particular, internally <br><br>created Web services must not be accessed from the Internet without <br><br>first passing through internal governance controls. The idea that <br><br>Enterprise 2.0 mashups can be created by combining external Web services <br><br>with internal ones is too early and currently unsafe. <br><br> <br><br>Market Issues <br><br> <br><br>The types of RIA vendors can be categorised as follows: <br><br> <br><br>* Ajax toolkits and widget libraries: There are both open source <br><br>software and commercially-priced examples. This category will be used by <br><br>developers wishing to build RIA from the ground up as custom software. <br><br>For general business use, this category is not relevant. <br><br> <br><br>* Pure Ajax frameworks with light client-side footprints: In this <br><br>category there are advanced Ajax frameworks that manage the <br><br>communication between user interaction and widgets and application state <br><br>synchronisation between the client- and server- sides. They also provide <br><br>robust security measures, have compatible widget libraries <br><br>out-of-the-box, and provide their own Integrated Development <br><br>Environments (IDEs) or RIA builder plug-ins to standard IDEs. <br><br> <br><br>* RIA with browser plug-ins: Whereas Ajax renders in HTML, a <br><br>browser plug-in can provide a container for the rendering of advanced <br><br>formats such as vector graphics. Examples are Adobe Flash player, Java <br><br>Applets, and Microsoft Silverlight. <br><br> <br><br>* RIA with heavy client-side application platforms: Applications <br><br>built with the Java platform or Microsoft .NET Framework on the <br><br>client-side fall into this category. These applications can connect to <br><br><img src="http://www.themangomedia.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Web-Application-Development.png" width="307" /><br><br>servers using the Internet outside the browser or combine with Ajax and <br><br>use the browser. <br><br> <br><br>* End-to-end application development environments: Whereas the <br><br>other categories are tools designed for programmers, there are <br><br>end-to-end development environments with advanced Graphical User <br><br>Interface (GUI) drag-and-drop facilities for creating RIA. These tools <br><br>can be used by power users, domain experts, and business analysts with <br><br>limited programming skills. <br><br> <br><br>* Rest of the market: A number of proprietary RIA solutions are <br><br>still available (such as Curl), but given the move towards open <br><br>standards, it is unlikely they will grow; rather we expect decrease in <br><br>market share. Butler Group expects RIA vendor rationalisation to take <br><br>place as market adoption increases. The greatest market adoption in RIA <br><br>is currently in RWA, which is past the early adopter stage and into the <br><br>early majority. The chief market trend in RWA is for existing Web <br><br>development tools to add their own Ajax capability. <br><br> <br><br>The larger vendors, such as Adobe, Microsoft, and TIBCO, are <br><br>appealing to the developer mass market and offer free tools to grow the <br><br>market for their premium, enterprise products. Sun is also appealing to <br><br>the developer community by providing its tools as open source in order <br><br>to grow the Java platform. IBM supports open source Eclipse and many Web <br><br>2.0 projects, including the DoJo Ajax toolkit provider. We believe it <br><br>likely that IBM will make an acquisition in this space. <br><br> <br><br>Smaller players have a more business-focused, go-to-market <br><br>strategy, appealing to business needs rather than the IT department. <br><br>Opportunities occur in the Small- to Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) <br><br>market and at departmental levels within large organisations, where <br><br>providing a solution that encompasses business requirements gathering, <br><br>development processes and Agile methodologies, and with supporting <br><br>development tools, will prove to be attractive. <br><br> <br><br>The end-to-end, Web-based application development tool providers, <br><br>notably edge IPK and OutSystems, enable power users and business <br><br>analysts to create applications. For the right customer and business <br><br>requirements these tools make a good choice. <br><br> <br><br>The toolkit projectsmany that are open source and appearing in <br><br>our Vendor Profiles, in Section 8—are mainly aimed at the mass <br><br>developer market and also feed into higher-value frameworks. <br><br> <br><br>Conclusion As the Internet progresses in its transition from a <br><br>'technology' to part of the everyday fabric of society, then <br><br>more business services and applications will be based on its presence. <br><br>To be part of this trend, businesses need tostart an internal RWA <br><br>investigation, if they have not already done so, to understand the <br><br>skills they require and which applications they need to build. This <br><br>Report will help in selecting the right technology, implementing the <br><br>right roll-out strategy, and choosing an appropriate RWA development <br><br>tool or tools. <br><br> <br><br>www.butlergroup.com <br><br> <br><br> <br><br>Table 1. <br><br> <br><br>Table 1: Characterising Web 2.0 <br><br> <br><br>Web 1.0 Web 2.0 <br><br> <br><br>User Interface HTML Rich, multimedia <br><br>Data User Consumes User creates and consumes <br><br>Platform Server-side The whole Web <br><br>Applications Constrained Web services, mashups, RIAs <br><br>Strategy Reach Self-service, self-organised, emergent <br><br>value <br><br> <br><br>Source: Butler Group <br><br>DATAMONITOR <br><br><a href='http://www.thefreelibrary.com/RichWebApplications:thebusinessbenefitsofWeb-enabled...-a0172560689'>http://www.thefreelibrary.com/RichWebApplications:thebusinessbenefitsofWeb-enabled...-a0172560689</a>[[/html]] - Comments: 0
Learn to Develop with Microsoft Developer Network - 24 Oct 2016 17:06
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