To Be Future Friendly
Is To Be
Device Agnostic
whoami
Past 12 Years of Websites...
Client Sends Request →
Full Response Comes Back ←
AJAX
MVC Frameworks à la Ruby on Rails
Realtime Frameworks via WebSockets
Where Are We Now?
The Desktop Web is Thriving
Google Docs/Drive
Angry Birds
Ok Go Music Video
Awesome
What About Mobile?
Mobile Web is not nearly as robust as the desktop
However...
Soon it will be...
However...
Mobile is not just
the web.
Let me say that again.
Mobile is not just
the web.
Tablets
"Casual Computing"
85% of US tablet owners use their tablets while watching TV
Forrester Research
Smart TVs
Digital Signage
In-Store Kiosks
Smart Appliances
Wearables
Accessories that provide additional value to devices and a better user experience can help to improve levels of satisfaction and brand loyalty, as well as provide additional revenue sources.
Strategy Analytics
Items Not Invented Yet!
Your software should not be bound solely to the browser.
It should favor the browser, but be flexible for any type of client.
It should be...
Client-Agnostic
But How?
Service Oriented Architecture
(SOA)
SOA Recipe
- Loosely Coupled Software Components (Services)
Services are autonomous, stateless, with fully documented interfaces, and separate from the cross-cutting concerns of the implementation.
This makes testing much easier.
SOA Recipe
- Loosely Coupled Software Components (Services)
- RESTful (or REST-like)
- API for Every Feature
- Use JSON, not XML
It should be noted that a client may not always have a UI. It may be another process or another service requesting information.
The onus is on the requesting client
to consume and display (or use) that
response data in a meaningful fashion.
Exposing Services
- Choose a platform that is conducive to
simple, RESTful APIs - node.js
- Make sure your interfaces do not change.
Easier said than done. - Send JSON
Consuming Services
- Will Be Client-specific
(Native Android app vs Mobile Web Site) - Expect and Consume JSON
- Cache data locally
You can still use the web and JavaScript to do the client side stuff!
JavaScript (still) Everywhere
DON'T SHIP THE UI
If you do, you will fail going forward.
The desktop web environment
assumes a fixed, static context.
At a desk, QWERTY keyboard.
In reality, this is a shrinking market.
Asymco
Final Thought
You, your code and your business need to support an ever-changing landscape of internet-capable devices.