{"id":1831,"date":"2009-02-16T17:22:46","date_gmt":"2009-02-16T22:22:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2009\/02\/16\/the-desktop-app-is-still-king\/"},"modified":"2009-02-28T16:29:28","modified_gmt":"2009-02-28T21:29:28","slug":"the-desktop-app-is-still-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2009\/02\/16\/the-desktop-app-is-still-king\/","title":{"rendered":"The Desktop App is still King"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although all the \u201ccool kids\u201d these days seem to be writing web apps, and the word \u201ccloud\u201d has taken on a new meaning that is sure to confuse meteorologists and normal people alike, I still think that desktop apps are very<\/strong> important. Maybe even important enough to deserve a little more attention than they\u2019ve been getting lately (living, as they do, in the shadow of the buzzword friendly \u201cweb app\u201d).<\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019m not deriding web apps here \u2013 I use them, too! But let\u2019s face it \u2013 the web was not designed to be an application. Look up the history of what hypertext<\/a> means and you\u2019ll see how far we\u2019ve had to stretch it to get to where we are today.<\/p>\n

Even the very best web apps tend to spend a lot of effort to look just like a desktop app<\/em>. When the lazy programmer<\/a> in me sees this sort thing, it causes me to develop an unhealthy twitch (in minor cases) or curl up into a ball in the corner (in extreme cases), muttering something about \u201ccode reuse.\u201d <\/p>\n

Of course, this is just a generalization \u2013 there are web apps that have absolutely nothing in common with desktop apps \u2013 take Google<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>, for example. <\/p>\n

But even truly unique web apps still end up tied to the desktop in one way or another. I use Google all the time; but most of my searches happen through the \u201csearch\u201d box in Firefox<\/a>. I use Google Notebook<\/a>, but I get to it through a Firefox add-in. I use Twitter, but I do so through a client (I\u2019m currently using Witty Twitter<\/a>, but there are literally dozens and dozens of clients out there).<\/p>\n

Sometimes I worry that we focus too much on web app design, to the detriment of desktop app design (UI design in particular). Web apps are cool, sure, but the desktop app is still \u201cking,\u201d and it\u2019s not wise to ignore the king!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although all the \u201ccool kids\u201d these days seem to be writing web apps, and the word \u201ccloud\u201d has taken on a new meaning that is sure to confuse meteorologists and normal people alike, I still think that desktop apps are very important. Maybe even important enough to deserve a little more attention than they\u2019ve been getting lately (living, as they do, in the shadow of the buzzword friendly \u201cweb app\u201d).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"webmentions_disabled_pings":false,"webmentions_disabled":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[203,199,201],"tags":[107,97],"class_list":["post-1831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-internet-technology","category-my-opinion","category-software-technology","tag-programming","tag-software","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pimUj-tx","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4460,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2013\/10\/18\/windows-8-1-is-it-better\/","url_meta":{"origin":1831,"position":0},"title":"Windows 8.1 is Here – Is it any Better?","author":"Keith Survell","date":"October 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Windows 8.1 was just released as a free update for anyone with Windows 8 - but the real question is: is it any good?","rel":"","context":"In "My Opinion"","block_context":{"text":"My Opinion","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/personal\/my-opinion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Windows 8.1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2013\/10\/windows-8-1.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4003,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2012\/08\/16\/windows-8-when-worlds-collide\/","url_meta":{"origin":1831,"position":1},"title":"Windows 8 – When Worlds Collide","author":"Keith Survell","date":"August 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I got my hands on the release version of Windows 8 the other day, and gave it a spin. What is this new version of Windows really like? Let's find out!","rel":"","context":"In "My Opinion"","block_context":{"text":"My Opinion","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/personal\/my-opinion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"windows 8 boot loader","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2012\/08\/windows-8-boot-loader-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5941,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2022\/12\/02\/giving-mastodon-another-try\/","url_meta":{"origin":1831,"position":2},"title":"Giving Mastodon Another Try","author":"Keith Survell","date":"December 2, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Despite my recent post complaining about Mastodon, I do like the idea of it and I want it to succeed... so I decided to give it another try. The hardest part, as always, is finding a server\/instance - my interests are somewhat varied, so I didn't want to join a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Internet"","block_context":{"text":"Internet","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/technology\/internet-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1186,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2008\/06\/27\/i-want-an-eee-pc\/","url_meta":{"origin":1831,"position":3},"title":"I WANT an Eee PC","author":"Keith Survell","date":"June 27, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Let's get one thing straight: I am not a laptop person. I like my full-sized keyboard, mouse, and screen, thank-you-very-much, and for me, there's just very little incentive to go with a laptop. I much prefer to be able to swap out pretty much anything (new hard drive, new video\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "personal"","block_context":{"text":"personal","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/personal\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4051,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2012\/08\/22\/a-second-look-at-windows-8\/","url_meta":{"origin":1831,"position":4},"title":"A Second Look at Windows 8","author":"Keith Survell","date":"August 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Not too long ago I took the final RTM (release to manufacturing) edition of Windows 8 for a spin and shared my thoughts about it. Well, just the other day I took the plunge, ensured my backup was up-to-date, popped the DVD in and upgraded my computer. 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