Ajax vs. FLEX

Rich Internet Applications (RIA) are fast becoming the standard in most websites. RIAs give the users a better web experience because of their ability to interact not only with cool interfaces but with better results as well. Online businesses especially the social networking websites are spending millions to develop that one application that will drive them to success. A website can only be gauged on what they are able to offer to their visitors and good, usable Rich Internet Application can guarantee visitors will go back to the site again and again. For web developers and online companies there are two ways to implement an RIA. They can either go with Ajax or Adobe. Each of them has their own pros and cons to consider. Let’s take a look at them to see what’s in it for the consumers. Ajax or Asynchronous JavaScript and XML was introduced to the public more than two years ago. It’s a programming language that combines JavaScript and XML. Perceived to be a very complicated language, toolkits are created to answer this need. There are also different types of frameworks to choose from and each of them has an edge from the other frameworks. Since it runs in JavaScript and XML, even though it’s complicated web developers can still use their skills and experience to create Ajax based websites. There are free, open-source and commercial frameworks available right now, ready to be used anytime. One the other hand, Ajax does pose some problems with developers since there are so many frameworks that it’s hard to choose which one work best. They can go with the commercial frameworks but it could still be a problem when it comes to the interface of creating websites using Ajax. Most of the Ajax frameworks don’t have a WYSIWYG editor. Only commercial frameworks have this editor. If you’re strapped in budget, you can just imagine a site before it’s actually tested out. Gaining recognition right now is the RIA language Adobe called FLEX. It can be run in different operating systems and different platforms across various web browsers. It’s a multi-million project of Adobe integrating the already powerful Flash of Adobe. Websites that have hundred of thousands of hits everyday will be able to use FLEX since it could face overuse in the eye and not blink once. The problem with FLEX though is not with web developers because there’s none in the first place. FLEX is an entirely new language that the stored knowledge of our web developers can help only a little. Mastering Flex takes time and hiring one developer will cost a company much. As of this writing, a FLEX developer could earn 60,000 to 100,000 USD every year. US based companies have to outsource their websites for FLEX. On the user side, visitors to FLEX enabled website needs to install Flash first. But who doesn’t? If you can access youtube.com and watch videos you already have Flash. Ultimately, the winner of this competition are the users, the run for better RIA will only give us more applications to exploit and be productive at the same time.