Web Application UI Guidelines?

Posted by Cliff on Tuesday October 15, 2002 @07:04PM from the making-useful-web-GUIs dept.

Tom Davies asks: "Every GUI platform has a document which describes the conventions developers should use when building GUIs with that toolset. There are also lots of good resources for Web site usability (e.g. Jakob Nielsen's useit.com). But what about web -applications-? I am developing an intranet application which is aimed at people who use it every day, not those who stumble on a web site and need to be able to use it immediately. It can have a higher learning curve, but must deliver more 'client/server like' usability. Are there any sites/books which address how to make HTML GUIs for applications?"

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Re:Simple answer: Don't by larien · 2002-10-16 00:34 · Score: 4, Insightful

I guess the advantage in most cases is the ease of development based on how much is already handled in the HTTP protocol (and SSL for encryption). This allows a faster development cycle as you don't have to worry about creating widgets (just use form/table/input tags). The other advantage is that 99.9% of desktop workstations have a web browser installed, but not all will allow the remote installation of software (a good thing, IMHO) due to security settings.
I guess that currently, there's enough expertise in delivering web apps that it's a good proposition. Whether that paradigm will continue in the longer term or not is a different matter, and time will tell as to the long term usage of web apps.