Web technologies are everywhere. At home and in the office, more and more applications use web browsers and HTML instead of (or as part of) more traditional user interfaces. But the web isn't the ideal way to interact with applications. Designed to deliver documents, web applications spread themselves across chains of pages, and can be difficult to navigate - and harder to keep track of what you're actually doing.

Web applications have become increasingly complex. Not only are users looking for more interactivity, they also need to be able to work on and offline. Web architectures also make it difficult for web applications to monitor changes and deliver alerts and changes, and for applications to connect to each other.

Companies such as Macromedia and Microsoft are working on tools to solve these problems, tools that still use web technologies to work with servers, but behave much more like traditional desktop applications than a browser. Known as smart clients, or rich web clients, these build on familiar technologies such as Flash or Windows Forms, as well as using web services and XML.

We're all familiar with Flash, though probably not as an application environment. Adverts and intro animations have given Flash a bad name while it has been evolving from a simple vector animation tool into a complex application environment. Now it includes a scripting language, standard graphical components and XML support. It can even store data on your PC. Other tools link it to Java and .Net web services. But despite the demonstrations of hotel and car hire booking systems, it is yet to fulfil its promise as an alternate user interface for web applications.

Flash is still limited to the browser. In March, Macromedia announced it was working on a new technology that would turn Flash into a tool for delivering rich applications to end-user desktops. Central is due to be launched by the end of the autumn. It is a two-part system: a set of development tools and a simple desktop application you use to find and install (and purchase) new applications.

Macromedia is running a large beta programme, with more than 4,500 developers. Leah Hickman, the market development director for Central, says Macromedia is using the beta to not just test the tools, but also to refine the business model that it intends to build around Central.

Central is going to give Macromedia a big challenge. Best known for its design and development tools, it now has to appeal to a new audience as well as its traditional constituency of developers. Central users may be using it at home, in a small business or in an enterprise, and they all have different demands.

Macromedia is learning a lot with the Central beta, lessons that apply to any company thinking about the next generation of rich internet clients. Developers need a platform that is rich and easy to work with, so they can quickly respond to user demands. Macromedia believes it will need templates and design patterns to help it reuse code, and to give end users consistency, so that Central applications will work the same way no matter where they have been developed.

One key element of Central is the business model, which aims to make it easy for users to find and buy applications. Macromedia will provide developers with a sales and distribution environment, built into the Central application. The application finder shows a listing of all third party applications, with "try and buy" licences. While Macromedia will manage transactions, it will also take a cut of any fees. Macromedia sees this as building a marketplace, but it is also going to be a big challenge for them - moving users from free web applications to a new world where smart clients cost real money.

What sort of applications are people building? One thing Macromedia has discovered from the beta is that developers are using Central to provide front ends for web services, such as applications to give you weather information, or help you find restaurants. You don't need to build a new back-end application, as long as you can deliver XML to Central.

Macromedia isn't alone. Microsoft has seen the value of richer clients for web applications, especially on mobile devices. The recent release of the latest version of the Pocket PC platform adds the .Net compact framework, making it easier for developers to produce smart clients that take advantage of web services. The SQL CE database will also help with building applications that can work on and offline. Office 2003's "smart documents" are a sign of things to come - building smart clients into everyday productivity tools.

Smart clients are an important part of the future of the web and the office. Macintosh users can get a taste with Konfabulator. The rest will need to wait for Microsoft's smart clients, and for Macromedia to release Central. It will be an interesting few years for web application developers, as smart clients compete for eyeballs with browsers. But as web services become more important, it's likely that smart clients will become a standard method of delivering information.

Links

Konfabulator
Macromedia Central
Microsoft Smart Clients