Monday, June 28, 2010

GNUmed web interface - wishlist

The following article show a) that I still know very little about web application development and b) that the person implementing this properly really needs to have a good skill set.

The person doing the web interface for GNUmed needs to have good skills in
- python
- Javascript
- JAVA
- object oriented coding
- MVC principles
- singlepage applications vs. multipage applications
- balancing client side workload with client side workload
- coding and running multiple instances of GNUmed web concurrently

Hardware is cheap. Internet tubes are congested and will be even more in the future. This means GNUmed web will need to

- transfer as little data and overhead (!) as possible
- cache heavily on the client side while ensuring data consistency (hard one)
- offload the user interface rendering to the client
- be capable of rendering user interface server side for incapable clients
- seperate data, ui layout (templates)
- have full i18n support
- handle 20 sessions on a off the shelf office server

It does not make sense to try to develop an interface that will fit small touch devices as well. Touch devices need a seperate interface.

When you attempt this please try to avoid code that makes an AJAX call for every keystroke in a phrasewheel or takes 30 seconds to load the login screen. If you think you have the skills it takes we sure would like to know.

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