The RIAs are on the Way

(NPES International E-commerce Website, August 04, 2008) Rich Internet Applications will change the way we interact with and over the Internet. But what is meant by this? The 'Rich' refers to multiple levels. The new technologies should go far beyond the clunky operation and limited functionality within the Internet browser. It will be goodbye Web 2.0, hello Web 3.0.Rich not only in terms of graphic and interactivity that includes sound and animation but also in terms of the functionality of the programs.

The Adobe (previously Macromedia) Flash browser plug-in has been around for many years and the current version (9) is available for Windows, Linux and Mac OSX. For mobile devices like smart phones there is Flash Lite. Adobe talks of a global penetration of the plug-in of over 97 %. Up until 2004 Flash applications were primarily produced with the flash Professional authoring tool. For more elaborate RIAs, Adobe has had Flex in its arsenal since March 2004. Consisting of a framework (SDK) and a development environment (Flex Builder). Although version 3 of the Flex SDK (Software Development Kit) is available as a free Open Source licence, the development environment continues to be charged for. Flex works with MXML to describe the visual layer but in the end the output is in the SWF (Shockwave Flash) Format, which is then processed by the Flash browser plug-in.

Recently, Adobe has published the first version of the Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR). This makes it possible to execute RIA applications independently of the web browser and it brings with it the advantage of access to the file system in the same way as a normal desktop program - something barred to pure browser applications on security grounds. To gain an idea of the level capability of an AIR program one should take a look at the eBay program developed for AIR.

Alternatives and new challengers
Although Adobe is the alpha male of the RIA world, there are other alternatives. Open Laszlo, for example, from the open source scene has a similar concept to Flex. Unlike Flex, this solution is also able to output dynamic HTML, besides Flash SWF files and so a plug-in is not necessary for the display. Also Microsoft puts a vast amount of energy into its Silverlight technology, which is often described as a rival to Flash, and the advances have been rapid. Like Flash, Silverlight is a browser plug-in, and at present it is available for Windows and Mac. Microsoft has also announced support for a Linux variant. The display layer in Silverlight is an offshoot of XML known as XAML, which also plays a key role in the WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation). At present the Logic is delivered through a lava　script implementation but the forthcoming (already being beta-tested) version 2.0 also has a slimmed down version of the Dot Net Framework, which will open up a whole new field of activity for Net developers. Consequently, the program logic and calculations can be realized in C+ and Visual Basic programming languages and this move should raise the performance to new heights.

There are also efforts to improve the look and feel within the web browser without additional plug-ins. AJAX (Asynchronus Javascript and XML) is an important technology in this field and it allows just parts of an HTML page to be updated instead of the whole page, as happens otherwise. Web pages with Ajax therefore behave more like a desktop program and the flow is more fluid.

Impact on web-to-print
Naturally enough, web-to-print has not been uppermost in the minds of the creators of all these technologies, but web-to-print applications will certainly be able to put them to good use. Far more convenient to use and editor friendly applications will become possible as a result. It is precisely when a page has to be filled with text, graphics and images, and changes are made to the existing Layout that rapid visual feedback is important. This is not of course news to most suppliers and efforts have long been underway to make improvements in this respect. The results, however, have varied greatly.
   At Drupa the fruits of this work will be visible. Trivet.Net 2008 from Boretius Software & EDV Beratung of Remscheid, for example, makes extensive use of Ajax. Kuhnert GmbH plans to present a first AIR Client for its One-2-edit web-to-print software.