Google Maps and Web Controls

Google Maps is probably the most revolutionary piece of software released on the web in its era. Compare the old map interfaces with a small yellow map, ugly fonts and arrows on each side so you could pan by getting a whole new map. Google Maps uses the whole screen, has pretty fonts and doesn't redraw. It is a tremendous user experience on the web in a time when the web meant the UI was mostly forms. It kickstarted the notion that the web can be as pretty as a desktop client.

At the moment, it still takes a ton of work to get a good user experience out of a web application. There are lots of browser compatibility issues, poor JavaScript editors and a lack of integration with server code to deal with. Libraries such as Prototype and jQuery are beginning to solve some of the issues but these are really just the base of an overall solution. EXT is probably similar to the next generation of web libraries: a layer on top. YUI has both a layer on top of JavaScript and controls using that layer.

Using controls with server code may also be the future. We already have tons of code the runs on the server, as well as the necessary ability to access the database. ASP.NET Ajax is Microsoft's attempt at increasing the web experience and we'll have to see if that can serve as the basis for more projects than the Control Toolkit.

Script# is a very clever attempt at writing JavaScript code with C#. You could even write Vista Sidebar Gadgets with this library. This seems to be a promising avenue but the developer (a Microsoft employee) seems to have stopped development. GWT is a more mature effort to write JavaScript with Java, but I have no experience with it.

The situation will shake out over the next 5 years or so. By 2012, creating a web application with a great UI should be standard. We should have enough research into UI design by then, too. Hopefully the browser manufacturers will cooperate by standardizing their JavaScript and layout engines, but it doesn't seem to be necessary.