Rich Internet applications (RIAs) are web applications that have some of the characteristics of desktop applications, typically delivered by way of proprietary web browser plug-ins or independently via sandboxes or virtual machines. Examples of RIA frameworks include Adobe Flash(Flex), Java/JavaFX(AJAX) and Microsoft Silverlight.
How to evaluate RIA Technologies??
When you evaluate RIA technologies, consider the following factors:
I. Richness of the UI : How many basic, out-of-the-box UI widgets or controls are readily available to develop a UI? How can you do data binding and event binding with these controls? The new controls should be easy to use, and also easily pluggable. Some RIA technologies give simple ways to add richness and more informative visual experiences, such as providing animation APIs in the page. For example, to ensure users click only once on a button, you can animate the button to move out of the view.
II. Complexity: Developers have used existing page-based models for so many years because it is easy and simple, however clumsy it might appear. RIA technology has to be easy to learn, build, and extend. It should also interoperate with existing Web technologies.
III. Flexibility and componentization: Flexibility to collaborate with different middleware components is important. Collaboration should be easily composable and extendable to create new customized widgets. Once you create libraries of custom widgets, you can reuse them in applications.
IV. Refreshing the page: There is a significant advantage to refreshing a block of a page instead of an entire page, as it directly depends on network traffic. Refreshing a block makes the application faster, more usable, and a much better visual experience for users. It also helps manage errors better.