jwcolby
jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com
Thu Jul 19 21:47:12 CDT 2012
I hope and pray that the HTML5 thing does what it promises. However I have to tell you that to this point I have not seen anything approaching a real database *anywhere* on the web that didn't positively suck to use. My call center app, at the client's request has about 14 tabs. The client looks up a claim and opens this form and has access to each and every part of the claim just by clicking on the appropriate tab. They love it. Maybe it is just me but I cannot see that happening in a browser. First of all there is crosstalk between subforms, pulling data from one part of the claim to allow / prevent other parts from doing things etc. Anyway, let me just say "I'll believe it if I ever see it." In the meantime, I have browsed a baout a bajillion web sites and they pretty much all suck. Which doesn't mean they don't work, just that they suck to try and manuever around. Just try to find anything in Lowes builder for example. Holy cow. Ask for lumber and get about 16 thousand hits for everything from nails to boards to wire to ... With silly circular sub menus off to the side which are supposed to get me closer to what I want. Amazon is the same way. Ask for anything, ANYTHING and watch what you get, from baby crap to books to dvds. No idea how they decide what to return but it is not easy or intuitive. And I have to say, most banks terminals look like they are legacy systems from the 70s. And probably are! ;) It may play well over the web but that doesn't make it cool or easy to use. John W. Colby Colby Consulting Reality is what refuses to go away when you do not believe in it On 7/19/2012 2:11 PM, Jim Lawrence wrote: > Hi John: > > Actually you can do anything with a browser but it just takes a whole > different way of thinking. > > Many awesome database systems have been designed to run through the web and > they support thousands of users quickly and efficiently. Check out all the > banks, insurance companies and every franchises POS system...they are all > web based...with very minor exceptions like the hybrids which are rapidly > disappearing. > > I have built a couple of proprietary, in-house, intranet browser interface > applications. They are not nearly as pretty as I could make today. All you > need is a server with a web server installed like IIS or Apache. (I have > used Apache a few times but am hardly more than a novice.) Fortunately, the > price is right for either. > > I have recently been approached to write a web based application that has > the same appearance and feel of an Access DB application. It will take about > a year but the new client pays me a monthly amount so there is no super > rush...but it is very possible. In fact I can add features that Access could > never supply or just simple features that would take a good VB programmer a > week to write but on a web site would take just minutes to install. There is > of course years of code that have re-written and abandoned. > > In the web-based field there are some really incredible innovations going on > and here is just something to wet your appetite with the development of > HTML5. > > http://html5demos.com/ > > (Unfortunately, for the most part IE has refused to play but really who > cares anymore?) > > Jim