Python Web App

[Tim Harig]

On 2010-12-23, Daniel Fetchinson <fetchinson at googlemail.com> wrote:
>> I don't personally think the web makes a good framework for highly
>> interactive applications as they must work within the constraints of the
>> browser and IDEs are highly interactive applications by their very nature.
>> Perhaps HTML5/CSS3 will change things; but, standard DOM manipulation,
>> as I am accustomed to seeing it, cannot generate the kind of rendering
>> that is available from native applications.  Attempts to do so end up being
>> kludgy.
>>
>> It also cannot handle the kinds of desktop integrations that are common
>> for native applications without opening up serious security trust issues.
>> (Can everybody say ActiveX fiasco?)
>
> So, in essence, you are predicting that google's chrome OS will be a
> failure, right?

No, most people are happy using web based email interfaces and never even
know that native email clients exist.  More is the pity.

>> Finally, there are difficulties in handling keystrokes without conflicting
>> with the browser's native key bindings.  I seldom ever touch a mouse
>> and I am a huge fan of vi, mutt, slrn, screen, ratpoison, etc. where
>> the primary interface is totally accessable through the keyboard without
>> having to tab through many options.
>
> Well, implementing vi or other text based tools in the browser is
> trivial. I mean it will function in exactly the same way as a native
> vi.

Not exactly.  I occassionally use web based terminals (Ajaxterm, Anyterm,
Shellinabox, etc) to access my systems.  This works only partially since
many of the keystrokes I use conflict with keystrokes that the browser
uses or which cause signals that the browser either does not catch or does
not pass on to be accessed by client side scripting.  The terminals must
therefore place buttons or synthetic keyboards on the screen to allow
you to simulate the keystrokes.  That kind of negates the advantages of
keystrokes in the first place.  It doesn't make fore a pleasant experience.