About Web Applications
Web-based Applications are Web sites that offer more to the user than typical, static Web sites. The difference lies in the way the information is provided to you. The site actually responds to the user, changing to provide the information the user wants to see. The Internet and Web technologies can provide an alternative to traditional desktop software. You can move desktop applications to centralized servers where they can be accessed using a Web browser. This approach, called Web-based Applications or Internet applications, enables organizations to rapidly adapt to changing needs while minimizing costs.
What are the advantages?
The advantages of Web-based Applications are:
- more useful info to the user - users feel they are getting the information they actually want from the site, and therefore come back more often;
- more useful info from the user - Web Applications can be accessed using any Web browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape. They can also be accessed from anywhere in the world where there is internet access;
- cost savings - Web Applications provide immediate, seat-by-seat savings, but where they really begin to shine is in the long-term. Upgrades, licenses, maintenance, troubleshooting, and backups can all take place in a single location, rather than dispersed throughout the enterprise.
Typical Web-based Applications
You have already experienced Web-based Applications if you used online banking (e-banking) or a site that provides customized information, such as an online job board or online stock portfolio management tools.
Some examples of Web-based applications that Documédia has designed include:
- Adapting collections of paper forms into PDF forms that input the data into a database to facilitate document management and printing. This process makes it easy for staff to complete common paperwork electronically and reduces re-keying of data;
- Streamlining existing corporate systems, such as employee evaluations, benefits enrollment, and sales fulfillment by combining tasks performed by several programs into a single Web application;
- Moving project planning and collaboration online with scheduling, discussion systems, document archiving, and other services;
- Ensuring staff access to important information through Web-based document libraries and search engines;
- Dynamic intranet, job board, dynamic portfolio, press release, buy & sell, and many other Web-based applications.
How do they work?
Web-based Applications are able to give users a Web experience tailored to their needs by pulling out the most appropriate information (usually from a database), rather than being restricted to showing a limited set of standard pages.
When you use a Web-based scheduling program rather than local software, you access the program as a Web site. To use the scheduling software, you simply start your Web browser and point it to a Web site's Uniform Resource Locator, or URL (for example, http://myserver/scheduler). Upon arriving at the correct site, your Web browser will display a Web page that lets you use the software. From there, the application functions in the same manner as local software. In this example, all scheduling information, calendar data, appointments, etc., are stored in the database, and retrieved via the Web browser as needed. The functionality can, if desired, be identical to the traditional version of the same software.
