How can Rich Internet Applications (RIA) influence a business?
Rich Internet Applications (RIA) are the latest sensation. An increasing number of web developers use them –Javascript technologies, AJAX, Silverlight and widget – to blur the distinction between web “pages” and desktop apps.
Many companies are testing these technologies themselves or through their web agency.
So far, Ajax has been the most popular: those ingenious versions of web pages that enable some parts to change without needing to update the whole page. This small step forward has endless possibilities. Tech companies such as Google, Adobe, Apple are exploiting it to the maximum through through an ever increasing range of services, including Google Docs, GMail and Google Maps.
What do web apps provide a company with?
Any ecommerce or site offering a complicated user experience with a long purchasing process needs to implement some interactivity in order to succeed. In particular, they need to act if:
-The internal search does not help visitors find what they are looking for.
-The site has static content pages, including the homepage, that are not properly loading, and dynamic panels are not being used to show information.
The new Web 2.0 design functionalities need to be created from scratch rather than by using third party services . This approach may not seem important, but when users and potential customers start getting used to a more dynamic browser experience, they will opt for companies that offer it.
Moreover, a website which does not use these Web 2.0 techniques will be slower, less smart and more difficult to navigate, as Web 2.0 projects offer a fast web app which automatically updates.
By experimenting with RIA Ajax apps and the web services, which form the backbone of many of our projects, we’ve seen that it’s possible to use several of the following techniques: dynamic show selection, smart availability, one-page-payment, option for selecting informative panels within the same page.
Not only does this translate to a better website than the customer’s previous one, but it generates better results.
Possible issues
Before you ask your designers to make any changes to the website in order to incorporate these elements, you need to make sure you won’t damage any part of your current website:
Web 2.0 apps cause some difficulties for search engines as they often cannot read the complex Javascript content of the page. You will need to ensure that your designers and developers find a way to supply traditional pages that search engines can index without resorting to illegal cover-up techniques, which could lead to the site’s exclusion.
Web 2.0 apps can produce some potential accessibility problems for blind users that need to be taken into account in order for the project to comply with current legislation relating to discrimination against disabled people.
Web 2.0 apps are harder to register with most analytic software, and highlight the need to start a new independent session for each part of the user experience in order to enable continuous access to high-quality market information.
With the arrival of dynamic apps on the Internet, we will be able to do without almost all the software programs currently installed on computers or phones. We have already seen how Adobe has started offering a version of Photoshop Elements which is executable from your browser.