As we get more Web 2.0 applications in the HR arena, perhaps it deserves a short explanation of what some of the competing technologies are.\u00a0 When we\u2019ve talked about Web 2.0, (again, defining it as the delivery of a rich internet application or RIA to the end user) we usually think of the AJAX technology.\u00a0 However, more application vendors are using the Adobe Flex technology including the Taleo Performance release in 2007 and at least one major vendor in early 2008 (I can\u2019t divulge who at this point).<\/p>\n
Who cares and what difference does it make to you as a buyer or your employees as end users?\u00a0 I\u2019ll split up the comparison in two categories: first development and then user experience.<\/p>\n
From the development perspective, Adobe Flex clearly wins.\u00a0 AJAX (being async javascript and XML) is hampered by a couple of things.\u00a0 First, javascript.\u00a0 While the original web language of HTML was as light as could be, Java and Javascript are fairly heavy.\u00a0 The amount of javascript needed to create AJAX pages can be robust, but when one considers creating not just pages, but entire applications, javascript is cumbersome.\u00a0 Adobe Flex offers a framework for creating applications without the use of heavy coding, although granted it is still necessary.\u00a0 While in truth, the resultant code does not differ that drastically from AJAX, Flex offers up a nicely packaged toolset.\u00a0 One huge advantage for AJAX though is that it is open source.\u00a0 Javascript and XML are both opensource communities, and Flex requires the purchase of product sets from Adobe.<\/p>\n
From the end user perspective, the battle between Flex and AJAX is a mixed bag.\u00a0 Again, AJAX is highly adopted on the open internet, but coding for multiple browsers is not always easy.\u00a0 I still constantly run into sites that work fine on IE, but not on Firefox.\u00a0 Because AJAX is a codeset that does not run within an application framework, it is subject to the interpretation of the browser.\u00a0 If you\u2019re curious and have the capabilities, check out how this site renders in IE, Firefox and Safari.\u00a0 While I\u2019ve tried to make systematicHR look the same in all three, differences do exist.\u00a0 The same goes for AJAX and making the end user experience identical for employees using different browsers from their home or work PC\u2019s can be tough.\u00a0 Flex on the other hand, uses Flash as the application framework (as in those Flash movies that play in ads all over the web).\u00a0 Therefore, so long as you have Flash Player on the PC, the application will pretty much run the same way giving you consistency in displaying your employer brand.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll argue that Flex is better at developing applications and the AJAX is better suited to individual web pages, for what it\u2019s worth.\u00a0 In all honesty, developing off either AJAX or Flex is probably not a big decision for HR.\u00a0 The resultant applications at this point won\u2019t show any better or worse as it\u2019s the skill of the application developer and their requirements design that\u2019s important.\u00a0 There are of course other tools out there, but these are the two I\u2019m seeing most.\u00a0 Options are good to have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As we get more Web 2.0 applications in the HR arena, perhaps it deserves a short explanation of what some of the competing technologies are.\u00a0 When we\u2019ve talked about Web 2.0, (again, defining it as the delivery of a rich…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hr-technology","category-web-20"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}