Rich Internet application
Encyclopedia
A Rich Internet Application (RIA) is a Web application
that has many of the characteristics of desktop application software
, typically delivered either by way of a site-specific browser
, via a browser plug-in, independent sandbox
es, extensive use of JavaScript
, or virtual machine
s. Adobe Flash
, JavaFX
, and Microsoft Silverlight
are currently the three most common platforms, with penetration rates
around 96%, 76%, and 66% respectively (as of August 2011). Although new Web standards have emerged, they still use the principles behind RIAs.
Users generally need to install a software framework
using the computer's operating system
before launching the application, which typically downloads, updates, verifies and executes the RIA. This is the main differentiator from JavaScript
-based alternatives like Ajax
that use built-in browser functionality to implement comparable interfaces. As can be seen on the List of rich Internet application frameworks which includes even server-side frameworks, while some consider such interfaces to be RIAs, some consider them competitors to RIAs; and others, including Gartner
, treat them as similar but separate technologies.
RIAs dominate in online gaming as well as applications that require access to video capture (with the notable exception of Gmail
, which uses its own task-specific browser plug-in). Web standards
such as HTML5 have developed and the compliance of Web browser
s with those standards has improved somewhat. However, the need for plug-in based RIAs for accessing video capture and distribution has not diminished, even with the emergence of HTML5 and JavaScript-based desktop-like widget sets
that provide alternative solutions for mobile Web browsing.
and raster graphics
to provide animation of text, drawings, and still images. It supports bidirectional streaming
of audio and video, and it can capture user input via mouse, keyboard, microphone, and camera. Flash contains an object-oriented language called ActionScript
and supports automation via the JavaScript Flash language (JSFL). Flash content may be displayed on various computer systems and devices
, using Adobe Flash Player
, which is available free of charge for common web browser
s, some mobile phone
s and a few other electronic devices (using Flash Lite
).
s are used both to create interactive visualisations and to present video, three dimensional objects and other media. Java applets are more appropriate for complex visualizations that require significant programming effort in high level language or communications between applet and originating server. Oracle's new JavaFX
is considered as another competitor for Rich Internet Applications.
has emerged as a potential competitor to Flash. While not yet as prevalent on websites as Flash, Silverlight has been used to provide video streaming for many high profile events, including the 2008 Summer Olympics
in Beijing, the 2010 Winter Olympics
in Vancouver, and the 2008 conventions for both major political parties in the United States. Silverlight is also used by Netflix
for its instant video streaming service.
of March 2002 by Macromedia
(now merged into Adobe
), though the concept had existed for a number of years earlier under names such as:
Flash, Silverlight and Java are application platforms accessed by the user's web browser as plug-ins. These application platforms limit the amount of data downloaded during initialization to only what is necessary to display the page. The browser plug-in is only downloaded once, and does not need to be re-downloaded every time the page is displayed; this reduces application load time, bandwidth requirements, and server load.
Proponents of RIAs assert that the cost of RIA development and O&M is typically lower than that of HTML-based alternatives due to increased developer productivity and standardized, backwards compatible nature of the application platform runtime environments. A 2010 study conducted by International Data Corporation
demonstrated an average savings of approximately $450,000 per application in the case of Flash platform development (in conjunction with use of the open source Flex
SDK), a 39% reduction in cost over a three-year period.
s, but Adobe Flash
content is now at least partially indexable.
Security can improve over that of application software
(for example through use of sandbox
es and automatic updates), but the extensions themselves remain subject to vulnerabilities
and access is often much greater than that of native Web application
s. For security purposes, most RIAs run their client portions within a special isolated area of the client desktop called a sandbox. The sandbox limits visibility and access to the file-system and to the operating system on the client to the application server on the other side of the connection. This approach allows the client system to handle local activities, calculations, reformatting and so forth, thereby lowering the amount and frequency of client-server traffic, especially versus client-server implementations built around so-called thin client
s.
2011 there were a number of announcements that demonstrated a decline in demand for rich internet application architectures. Adobe announced that Flash would no longer be produced for mobile or TV (refocusing its efforts on HTML 5
). Pundits questioned its continued relevance even on the desktop and described it as "the beginning of the end". RIM announced that it would continue to develop Flash for the PlayBook, a decision which has been described as "RIM's worst decision to date". Rumors state that Microsoft is to abandon Silverlight after version 5 is released. The combination of these announcements had some proclaiming it "the end of the line for browser plug-ins".
Web application
A web application is an application that is accessed over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. The term may also mean a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable.Web applications are...
that has many of the characteristics of desktop application software
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
, typically delivered either by way of a site-specific browser
Site-specific browser
A site-specific browser is a software application that is dedicated to accessing pages from a single source on a computer network such as the Internet or a private intranet. SSBs typically simplify the more complex functions of a web browser by excluding the menus, toolbars and browser chrome...
, via a browser plug-in, independent sandbox
Sandbox (computer security)
In computer security, a sandbox is a security mechanism for separating running programs. It is often used to execute untested code, or untrusted programs from unverified third-parties, suppliers, untrusted users and untrusted websites....
es, extensive use of JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
, or virtual machine
Virtual machine
A virtual machine is a "completely isolated guest operating system installation within a normal host operating system". Modern virtual machines are implemented with either software emulation or hardware virtualization or both together.-VM Definitions:A virtual machine is a software...
s. Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
, JavaFX
JavaFX
JavaFX is a software platform for creating and delivering rich Internet applications that can run across a wide variety of connected devices....
, and Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft Silverlight is an application framework for writing and running rich Internet applications, with features and purposes similar to those of Adobe Flash. The run-time environment for Silverlight is available as a plug-in for web browsers running under Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X...
are currently the three most common platforms, with penetration rates
Mobile phone penetration rate
Mobile phone penetration rate is a term generally used to describe the number of active mobile phone numbers within a specific population.- Penetration rates by region :*List of mobile network operators of the Americas...
around 96%, 76%, and 66% respectively (as of August 2011). Although new Web standards have emerged, they still use the principles behind RIAs.
Users generally need to install a software framework
Software framework
In computer programming, a software framework is an abstraction in which software providing generic functionality can be selectively changed by user code, thus providing application specific software...
using the computer's operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
before launching the application, which typically downloads, updates, verifies and executes the RIA. This is the main differentiator from JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
-based alternatives like Ajax
Ajax (programming)
Ajax is a group of interrelated web development methods used on the client-side to create asynchronous web applications...
that use built-in browser functionality to implement comparable interfaces. As can be seen on the List of rich Internet application frameworks which includes even server-side frameworks, while some consider such interfaces to be RIAs, some consider them competitors to RIAs; and others, including Gartner
Gartner
Gartner, Inc. is an information technology research and advisory firm headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, United States. It was known as GartnerGroup until 2001....
, treat them as similar but separate technologies.
RIAs dominate in online gaming as well as applications that require access to video capture (with the notable exception of Gmail
Gmail
Gmail is a free, advertising-supported email service provided by Google. Users may access Gmail as secure webmail, as well via POP3 or IMAP protocols. Gmail was launched as an invitation-only beta release on April 1, 2004 and it became available to the general public on February 7, 2007, though...
, which uses its own task-specific browser plug-in). Web standards
Web standards
Web standards is a general term for the formal standards and other technical specifications that define and describe aspects of the World Wide Web. In recent years, the term has been more frequently associated with the trend of endorsing a set of standardized best practices for building web sites,...
such as HTML5 have developed and the compliance of Web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
s with those standards has improved somewhat. However, the need for plug-in based RIAs for accessing video capture and distribution has not diminished, even with the emergence of HTML5 and JavaScript-based desktop-like widget sets
Widget toolkit
In computing, a widget toolkit, widget library, or GUI toolkit is a set of widgets for use in designing applications with graphical user interfaces...
that provide alternative solutions for mobile Web browsing.
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash manipulates vectorVector graphics
Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...
and raster graphics
Raster graphics
In computer graphics, a raster graphics image, or bitmap, is a data structure representing a generally rectangular grid of pixels, or points of color, viewable via a monitor, paper, or other display medium...
to provide animation of text, drawings, and still images. It supports bidirectional streaming
Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...
of audio and video, and it can capture user input via mouse, keyboard, microphone, and camera. Flash contains an object-oriented language called ActionScript
ActionScript
ActionScript is an object-oriented language originally developed by Macromedia Inc. . It is a dialect of ECMAScript , and is used primarily for the development of websites and software targeting the Adobe Flash Player platform, used on Web pages in the form of...
and supports automation via the JavaScript Flash language (JSFL). Flash content may be displayed on various computer systems and devices
Information appliance
In general terms, an information appliance or information device is any machine or device that is usable for the purposes of computing, telecommunicating, reproducing, and presenting encoded information in myriad forms and applications....
, using Adobe Flash Player
Adobe Flash Player
The Adobe Flash Player is software for viewing multimedia, Rich Internet Applications and streaming video and audio, on a computer web browser or on supported mobile devices. Flash Player runs SWF files that can be created by the Adobe Flash authoring tool, by Adobe Flex or by a number of other...
, which is available free of charge for common web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
s, some mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
s and a few other electronic devices (using Flash Lite
Flash Lite
Adobe Flash Lite is a lightweight version of Adobe Flash Player, a software application published by Adobe Systems. This version is intended for mobile phones and other portable electronic devices like Chumby and iRiver, and allows users of these devices to view multimedia content and applications...
).
Java
Java appletJava applet
A Java applet is an applet delivered to users in the form of Java bytecode. Java applets can run in a Web browser using a Java Virtual Machine , or in Sun's AppletViewer, a stand-alone tool for testing applets...
s are used both to create interactive visualisations and to present video, three dimensional objects and other media. Java applets are more appropriate for complex visualizations that require significant programming effort in high level language or communications between applet and originating server. Oracle's new JavaFX
JavaFX
JavaFX is a software platform for creating and delivering rich Internet applications that can run across a wide variety of connected devices....
is considered as another competitor for Rich Internet Applications.
Microsoft Silverlight
In recent years, Microsoft SilverlightMicrosoft Silverlight
Microsoft Silverlight is an application framework for writing and running rich Internet applications, with features and purposes similar to those of Adobe Flash. The run-time environment for Silverlight is available as a plug-in for web browsers running under Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X...
has emerged as a potential competitor to Flash. While not yet as prevalent on websites as Flash, Silverlight has been used to provide video streaming for many high profile events, including the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
in Beijing, the 2010 Winter Olympics
2010 Winter Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...
in Vancouver, and the 2008 conventions for both major political parties in the United States. Silverlight is also used by Netflix
Netflix
Netflix, Inc., is an American provider of on-demand internet streaming media in the United States, Canada, and Latin America and flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California...
for its instant video streaming service.
History
The term "rich Internet application" was introduced in a white paperWhite paper
A white paper is an authoritative report or guide that helps solve a problem. White papers are used to educate readers and help people make decisions, and are often requested and used in politics, policy, business, and technical fields. In commercial use, the term has also come to refer to...
of March 2002 by Macromedia
Macromedia
Macromedia was an American graphics and web development software company headquartered in San Francisco, California that produced such products as Flash and Dreamweaver. Its rival, Adobe Systems, acquired Macromedia on December 3, 2005 and controls the line of Macromedia...
(now merged into Adobe
Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
), though the concept had existed for a number of years earlier under names such as:
- Remote ScriptingRemote ScriptingRemote Scripting is a technology which allows scripts and programs that are running inside a browser to exchange information with a server. The local scripts can invoke scripts on the remote side and process the returned information...
, by MicrosoftMicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, circa 1999 - X Internet, by Forrester Research in October 2000
- Rich (Web) clients
- Rich Web application
Design, distribution, cost
Rich Internet applications use a Rich Client deployment model (deployment of a compiled client application through a browser) rather than a thin-client-server model (where the user's view is largely controlled from the server).Flash, Silverlight and Java are application platforms accessed by the user's web browser as plug-ins. These application platforms limit the amount of data downloaded during initialization to only what is necessary to display the page. The browser plug-in is only downloaded once, and does not need to be re-downloaded every time the page is displayed; this reduces application load time, bandwidth requirements, and server load.
Proponents of RIAs assert that the cost of RIA development and O&M is typically lower than that of HTML-based alternatives due to increased developer productivity and standardized, backwards compatible nature of the application platform runtime environments. A 2010 study conducted by International Data Corporation
International Data Corporation
International Data Corporation is a market research and analysis firm specializing in information technology, telecommunications and consumer technology. IDC is a subsidiary of International Data Group...
demonstrated an average savings of approximately $450,000 per application in the case of Flash platform development (in conjunction with use of the open source Flex
Adobe Flex
Adobe Flex is a software development kit released by Adobe Systems for the development and deployment of cross-platform rich Internet applications based on the Adobe Flash platform...
SDK), a 39% reduction in cost over a three-year period.
Characteristics
RIAs present indexing challenges to Web search engineWeb search engine
A web search engine is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web and FTP servers. The search results are generally presented in a list of results often referred to as SERPS, or "search engine results pages". The information may consist of web pages, images, information and other...
s, but Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
content is now at least partially indexable.
Security can improve over that of application software
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
(for example through use of sandbox
Sandbox (computer security)
In computer security, a sandbox is a security mechanism for separating running programs. It is often used to execute untested code, or untrusted programs from unverified third-parties, suppliers, untrusted users and untrusted websites....
es and automatic updates), but the extensions themselves remain subject to vulnerabilities
Vulnerability (computing)
In computer security, a vulnerability is a weakness which allows an attacker to reduce a system's information assurance.Vulnerability is the intersection of three elements: a system susceptibility or flaw, attacker access to the flaw, and attacker capability to exploit the flaw...
and access is often much greater than that of native Web application
Web application
A web application is an application that is accessed over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. The term may also mean a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable.Web applications are...
s. For security purposes, most RIAs run their client portions within a special isolated area of the client desktop called a sandbox. The sandbox limits visibility and access to the file-system and to the operating system on the client to the application server on the other side of the connection. This approach allows the client system to handle local activities, calculations, reformatting and so forth, thereby lowering the amount and frequency of client-server traffic, especially versus client-server implementations built around so-called thin client
Thin client
A thin client is a computer or a computer program which depends heavily on some other computer to fulfill its traditional computational roles. This stands in contrast to the traditional fat client, a computer designed to take on these roles by itself...
s.
Decline
In NovemberNovember
November is the 11th month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars and one of four months with the length of 30 days. November was the ninth month of the ancient Roman calendar...
2011 there were a number of announcements that demonstrated a decline in demand for rich internet application architectures. Adobe announced that Flash would no longer be produced for mobile or TV (refocusing its efforts on HTML 5
HTML 5
HTML5 is a language for structuring and presenting content for the World Wide Web, and is a core technology of the Internet originally proposed by Opera Software. It is the fifth revision of the HTML standard and is still under development...
). Pundits questioned its continued relevance even on the desktop and described it as "the beginning of the end". RIM announced that it would continue to develop Flash for the PlayBook, a decision which has been described as "RIM's worst decision to date". Rumors state that Microsoft is to abandon Silverlight after version 5 is released. The combination of these announcements had some proclaiming it "the end of the line for browser plug-ins".
See also
- HTML5
- List of rich Internet application frameworks
- PIGUI
External links
- Accessible rich Internet applications (WAI-ARIA) 1.0 - W3C Working Draft 15 December 2009
- The W3C Rich Web Clients Activity