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You can absolutely make a web interface that is snappier (not quite like a terminal application). You need to spend a lot of time with your layouts and jettison
by a2tech 5y ago
You can absolutely make a web interface that is snappier (not quite like a terminal application). You need to spend a lot of time with your layouts and jettison a lot of your web assumptions (like using javascript for a lot of things, spending a lot of time on tab progression, and forget about responsive designs). My current job when I started maintained a web app for a medical research outfit. The person that developed it came from a COBOL/RPG background and applied that knowledge to this application (which required tons of data entry via web forms). It was a python backend, minimal JS on the front end, and our data entry folks could fly when they were entering data. The endpoint that the data entry screens pointed to were implemented with speed in mind so saving a form was almost instant (from the user perspective).
- WesleyJohnson 5y agoThank you for the anecdote. I'll have to do some more research in this area. We're using Django on the backend and minimal JS on the frontend already, though we have introduces some React in certain areas. I think, as you stated, we just have to double down on layouts, tab progression, etc and rethink what we think we know about web applications.
- a2tech 5y agoFor those screens that you want super snappy, you'll want them outside of Django. You'll want to get to where the page generation is as simple as possible on the server side and the endpoint you're POST'ing to is as performant as possible. SIMPLE is the name of the game when it comes to these kinds of things.