[Sigia-l] Going from Windows GUI to Browser-Based GUI

[Christopher Fahey [askrom]]

> > I've just notice that most desktop apps
> > are really crappy compared to most web sites

Ziya wrote:
> Fighting words :-) 
> Why do you say that?


Because even in the still-young world of web site and web-application
design, where the toolkit available to interface designers is
significantly reduced from that available to desktop application
designers, we've seen a remarkable increase (indeed an explosion) in the
general public's use of computers and the internet. 

Because web site designers begin with the assumption that there is no
training, no manual, and a competitor's site a click away. Most
application designers, particularly for enterprise apps and for b-to-b
apps, assume the exact opposite.

Because application designers have a decades-old juggernaut of
incredibly-bad-interface-design habits and conventions that they still
have to make an effort to break (despite the ready availability of
better design conventions). Web site designers are much more often asked
to come up with new interface design ideas (this leads to as much bad as
good, but nothing worse than the worse app designs).

Because application designers are now imitating web site conventions in
their interface designs.

Because application designers can't easily update their crappy buggy
products after they've been released.

All that being said, I'll argue the opposite side too: I still think
that the need for web-based versions of desktop applications is
sometimes exaggerated and/or blinded by the thrill of webification. A
thin-client is cool for users on the go, but in most cases it will never
be as good as the real thing.

And (and I've said this before on this list) perhaps the introduction of
the web has also discouraged the creation of really powerful and
versatile dedicated network apps. I think that, at least for now,
dedicated apps (as opposed to web sites) offer the best possibility for
the most powerful (and the coolest) interactive products - from instant
messenger apps to p2p filesharing apps to multiplayer games to business
productivity apps. I'm just saying that the gap between the reality of
desktop app design and the potential of desktop app design is vast.

-Cf

[christopher eli fahey]
art: http://www.graphpaper.com
sci: http://www.askrom.com
biz: http://www.behaviordesign.com