Design has improved across nearly every aspect of the web over the last decade - frontends, backends, web apps, desktop clients, widgets - you name it. And today, a bad UI is finally enough to kill an otherwise good product. We use a lot of sexy software.
But “intuitive” isn’t enough. Many web apps push me away for one simple reason: they’re #&$*ing slow!
I’m wondering - are web apps driving obsolescence?
A few years ago, it was common to say of an old computer - “Well, it’s still good for word processing, e-mail, and browsing the web.” Less so, today. Don’t get me wrong, of course - I love web applications and build them for a living. But I do believe that there’s a place for native code, and a place for Javascript.
In this screenshot, I’m running Safari 3, top (a process management tool), and Activity Monitor. When I open GMail, Safari’s CPU utilization spikes to a whopping 67.8%. Opening, deleting, or tagging a message produces a similar spike. Playing Flash video ramps up the fans. And web-based office suites throw my browser into a seizure.
But what’s under the hood? Am I running Leopard on an SE 30? Read the rest of this entry »
