Architecture Big Bets - Part 1 - Replacing HTML (Finally!)
HTML is an excellent technology, and I truly raise my hat to Sir Tim Berners-Lee for inventing it. My suggestion is that by now HTML is no longer suitable as either an application development platform or is optimal an information delivery method in some cases. I’d like to present this theory as the first Architecture Big Bet.
You probably know my views on that I have been talking for some time now about the fact that desktop applications are better for internal applications that are used by users for a significant period of time. Well, the information that I have been posting here and talking about in presentations when I can has been aimed at awakening people to the options and opportunities and while technology has supported the message the widespread adoption has not been. I’ve been yelling into the ether hoping that people would hear and understand. Some have.
A number of factors are aligning to drive significant change in this area though. These are:
- Greater amounts of bandwidth;
- A focus on design thanks to Apple, Vista, mobile phones and other devices, and increasing consumerism;
- Improvements in processing power and graphical capabilities of machines and operating systems; and
- Availability of Silverlight.
I talk about Silverlight because Flash has not been able to achieve the same mindshare as Silverlight has even though it has been technically capable for some years. Also, I see Silverlight as a technology this is driving this trend.
The reason that Microsoft has achieved this state with Silverlight now, and that it will be the killer for user interfaces for all applications, is that:
- It has been developed it from a data-driven application perspective;
- That the interface between design and development is so smooth; and
- It benefits from being the next generation.
Flash was never able to move beyond advertising because it was just that little bit too hard to do things other than graphical work in it.
I see that the future web applications will be increasingly developed with a rich UI such as Silverlight rather than HTML, and in preference to AJAX. This is great, because as well as the driving factors listed above we should realise that coding in script, AJAX, HTML or whatever combination of the above we use is just simply too hard, too expensive and too hard to maintain (even with tool support).
I think that this will be the case for both intranet and Internet content.
This shift obviously results in different architecture models, with greater capabilities on the client, and a greater focus on user interface design than has been the case in the past. It brings with it a focus on entirely different UI design approaches where it is no longer necessary to make applications look like Office (see earlier posts).
So, I suggest that:
- Developers learn Silverlight;
- Architects understand what this means and build processes for design and development accordingly;
- Organisations look to employ designers; and
- Architects, Developers, BA’s and UI designers understand the new UI design paradigms needed.
What do you think?