Best Browser For Using Complex Web Applications?

yanyan writes "I'm fairly new to the field of web application development. Currently I'm working on a big online ticketing system for passage and freight for a local shipping company. It's a one-man show and the system is written in Ruby and uses Rails. Aside from the requisite functionality of creating bookings the system must also print reports and tickets, and this is where I've discovered (the hard way) that most, if not all, browsers fall short. I've had to switch from Firefox 3.6.3 to Opera 10.53 because of a major printing bug in Firefox, but the latest stable Opera is also giving me its own share of problems. To complicate things, an earlier version of Opera (10.10) doesn't appear to have 10.53's printing problems, but I'm wary. What browsers and specific versions do you end up deploying for use with big, complex web apps that include printing? Also consider CSS accuracy and consistency."

Comments

My experience:

[Roadmaster]

In my experience, the easiest way to get a consistent and stable printing experience is by generating PDF. I have yet to have stability problems if this is done properly. As you're working with Ruby on Rails, using Prawn and Prawnto might be useful. However, if you absolutely positively must NOT use PDF for printing, then this probably won't help you.

Re:but I thought HTML was supposed to fix all that

[amicusNYCL]

Why not take advantage of a more advanced and mature UI widget set, such as that provided by Java

Java is 20 years old, Javascript is 15 years old, and Java is mature while Javascript is not? Does that extra 5 years really make that much of a difference? Was Java considered not mature in 2005? There are plenty of mature Javascript UI libraries around that developers can take advantage of (ExtJS/Sencha, jQuery, Mootools, etc). There are several use cases where Java is a pain in the ass and an offline application is not an option. A rich internet application implemented in Javascript is perfectly fine for many situations. There's no shoehorn involved when it's the best tool for the job.

Re:but I thought HTML was supposed to fix all that

[nixkuroi]

I will be flayed alive, but Silverlight 4 is a "Rich Internet Application" framework and with the most recent version, they built in some very tight and effective printing functionality. That, in combination with the ability to pretty much lay things out exactly as you want, export to an image or text format, export the app to an out of browser desktop app, and print in whatever format you see fit, makes it ideal for the kind of ticketing system you're talking about.

Here's a blog on how to implement it: http://wildermuth.com/2009/11/27/Silverlight_4_s_Printing_Support
And another: http://www.silverlightshow.net/items/A-look-at-the-Printing-API-in-Silverlight-4.aspx

and here's Microsoft's page hyping it: http://www.silverlight.net/getstarted/silverlight-4/

Here's a blog on linking Ruby on Rails with Silverlight as well: http://techblogging.wordpress.com/2008/03/26/using-silverlight-with-rubyonrails/

Hope this helps.

Re:but I thought HTML was supposed to fix all that

[Anonymous Coward]

NONE of you posting in this thread section can read, obviously. The question is what BROWSER is best for complex web applications. It is NOT what programming/scripting language is best for making such applications.

Heck, as wrong of an answer as it would be, "Internet Explorer would be best!!!" would be a better answer than the ones you all are fighting over. At least it's on the list of possible answers to the question.

Someone needs to mod you all to Off Topic oblivion. There's nothing "Insightful" in you all not even remembering what the question was...