I need to cite them in a sales pitch for a web app that will have applets in it.
Correction: One of Facebook's photo uploaders. The default one is Flash-based.
Chry Cheng
2010-08-24 06:18:30
Choosing this as answer because Facebook is popular.
Chry Cheng
2010-08-24 07:28:57
It started out by beachballing my browser, then I got to watch a progress bar *slowly* grind its way along, and then I got board and closed the tab. As adverts for Java go, that's a poor one.
David Dorward
2010-08-24 06:29:05
Actually it looks pretty nice when you get it to run. The site isn't so popular though so I'm just going to vote up this answer.
Chry Cheng
2010-08-24 07:29:19
+2
A:
As someone who deploys both free floating (JWS) and embedded (conventional applet) rich client apps. from a web site, I would advise avoiding applets wherever practical.
They are an odd mix of thin and rich client that makes moving around the page using the keyboard difficult, if not impossible.
They are not easily resizable.
There is a new browser/JRE/applet interaction bug every other week, and they are a constant source of maintenance trying to work around the bugs that nobody seems to want to fix. Sun/Oracle points to the browser manufacturer, while the makers of the browser either say it is Sun's problem, or flag it as low priority.
In the few cases where I deploy embedded applets, there is either:
No other solution immediately obvious. This usually only applies to applets intended to support other applets - Java minimum version checking, applet wrappers etc.
A JWS based alternative.
And in the case of 2, when I hear from users of bugs in the applet, I advise them to use the JWS version.
Is there any reason this web app. would be better served by embedded applet(s) rather than an app. deployed using JWS?
Andrew Thompson
2010-08-24 14:23:05
Thank you for you advice. While I cannot agree more, it's not really my call in this project whether or not to use applets.
Chry Cheng
2010-08-25 02:14:52
+1
A:
You might try: http://www.javafx.com/ (although this is based on JavaFx, it's still some kind of applet)
Old-school applets are very rare. More visitors have Flash and it is easier to create good-looking sites. If you only are going to use the old-style applets (so not JavaFx): please think it over again. You might be better of choosing a more simpler solution with HTML and (some) Javascript.
Or is it actually Java Webstart.
SPee
2010-08-24 14:37:50