[Seaside] state of the aubergine

[Julian Fitzell]

Frank Sergeant wrote:
> Avi Bryant <avi@beta4.com> wrote:
>  
> 
>>We're currently finishing up a Seaside application that manages ticket
>>sales for a group of theatres - basically a point of sale app, which has
> 
>  ...
> 
> Thank you for describing your application.
> 
> 
>>processes are quite sequential, there ended up being essentially no
>>coupling between the various pages.  Instead, the application is
>>structured as a bunch of dialogs with simple inputs and simple outputs
> 
> 
> I think that is one of the major appeals of the Seaside approach, that
> one might avoid becoming too deeply intangled in the html flow control
> (if I've understood correctly).  I had played a little with the app that
> was finally done in Dolphin by trying out Python with its httpd server
> and I was favorably impressed with it in many ways, although I did find
> myself becoming a little too intangled in coding the next actions on
> each page.  The main reason I abandoned that approach at the time was
> fear that the users would not accept a web-based interface (they had
> been used to a DOS/Clipper interface), especially with regard to
> keystroke shortcuts for moving incrementally and/or rapidly through
> picklists.  With a web-based app, I had trouble getting certain
> keystrokes, I forget which now, which had become "standard" in the DOS
> version of the app.  Now I am not quite so worried about that aspect.  I
> still wonder how well it would be received by users who are focused on
> data entry speed and who prefer never to move from the keyboard to the
> mouse.

Yes, this was a concern for us as well.  I think in this case that the 
task is sufficiently distant from direct data entry that it will be 
manageable.  Page load times are pretty fast too considering that the 
server will be dedicated to the task and on the same LAN.  We are 
confident that for most users the useability improvemnts over the 
existing solution will save time easily in the long run but there is one 
user who made heavy use of shortcut keys and it remains to be seen 
whether he is totally satisfied with the web-based system.  He seemed ok 
with it in initial tests...

Julian



-- 
julian@beta4.com
Beta4 Productions (http://www.beta4.com)