Web Applications Activity
Last modified by Humairaa Shekh on Thursday, 15 December 2011, 7:43 AM
This document was downloaded on Thursday, 31 March 2022, 9:19 AM
What are Web Applications
A web application is any application that uses a web browser as a client, and can be accessed
over a network. A web application is different from a web site in that a web site is more like a
magazine or a book, where ther user can only read information. Web applications function more
like normal computer software.
Exploring Web Applications
Web Applications can be as simple as guestbook or post a comment function in a web site, or as
complex as a word processor.
Common web applications include webmail, discussion forums, blogs, online sales and auction,
wikis and many other functions.
Let us explore two common web applications that students currently use.
Exploring Moodle
Moodle is an example of a web application. Moodle uses a web browser as a client and can be
accessed over a network.
Some typical features of Moodle include:
Login
Post/Reply to a Discussion
Post a term/commment in a Glossary
Rate posts
Quiz
Exploring Facebook
Facebook is a very popular web application. It uses a web browser as a client and can be
accessed over the Internet.
Some typical features of Facebook include:
Login
Status updates
Like
Comment
Messages
How Web Applications Work?
Most Web applications employ a client-server architecture.
A client-server environment is one in which multiple computers (clients) share information or
services offered by a main central computer (server).
The client makes a request to the server and the server, in response, does all the necessary
processing before passing the result back to the client.
The Client
The client in a web applciation is the web browser.
Common web browsers include:
Internet Explorer
Mozilla Firefox
Google Chrome.
Almost any web browser can be used as a client for web applications, although some web
applications are designed to work with only specific web browsers.
The Server
The server is the central apllication that performs all the processing in the web application. The
server stores all the information, retrieves information and also manipulates/processes information.
Web developers use a combination of server-side scripts (ASP, PHP, Perl, etc) and client-side
scripts ((X)HTML, Javascript, etc) to develop web applications.
The client-side script deals with the presentation of information while the server-side script deals
with the core processing functions.
Lets now have a look at some of benefits and drawbacks of web applications.
Benefits of Web Applications
Web applications do not require any installation on the client machines.
Web applications are cross-platform (in most cases) since they operate within a browser
windoew.
There is no need to update clients during application upgrades. All upgrade is done only on
the central server.
Browser applications generally require little or no disk space on the client.
Web applications have greater accessibility since they typically can be accessed from any
where.
Drawbacks of Web Applications
Web interfaces, compared to thick clients, typically have a limited user experience and
usability. However, with AJAX, Flash, etc, it is now possible to create very rich and
interactive user interfaces.
Web applications require compatible browsers/technologies. If a web browser is not
compatible or does not contain the necessary "plug-ins", the application may not function
correctly.
Web applications typically have a single point of failure.
Web applications can be used to track user actions. Therefore, there can be privacy issues.
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