Webapps

John Gruber has an entry about webapps, which made me thinking. Basically he defines web-apps as applications that you do not have to install. Web-apps are used through a web-browser. The user interface of web-apps is usually below-par. The interfaces between web-apps are almost dissimilar, but the user does not seem to care. Web-apps are often very easy to use and can be used anywhere.

He however does not distinguish between apps that need an online (read Internet) connection and the ones that don’t. Some of the classic apps do not really need an online connection (Photoshop, BBEdit, QuarkExpress). But these are also highly advances applications, which really use the advantage of being local. Online apps are often much more simple and do really need the advantage of being local on the PC. Thus application complexity might be a differentiator. This might also show that many PC-applications are just to complex. They want to use all features of the PC. The popularity of Apple’s iApps does show something similar. People want to use simple, easy to use apps.

He claims that people do not care about the quality of an app’s user interface. I am not sure. Apple’s iApps show different. I think that quality and complexity are fighting here. Complexity lowers the quality and people move to web-apps.

The maintenance arguments favour the web-apps indeed. No installation, no backups worries, no storage worries, no downtime, etc. With web-apps you outsource your system management troubles, which will be a great advantage for many users. Some webapps might even have services not possible in normal apps (really??) and are foremost portable. You can use them anywhere, on any PC, with any browser (hopefully) and with an platform (more and more). Although the latter is only an advantage to nomadic users.

It shows that for the same service a whole range of implementations are possible and required by the users dependent on their needs. An email-service shows this very well. Advanced users use a local applications, moderate users use a web-based application, nomadic users change between various platforms and browsers to access an online service and very nomadic users might only use the SMS/MMS feature of a mobile phone. So many people, so many flavours.