Web 2.0 user interface features
Learn about portal features that pertain to the Web 2.0 generation type of Web user interface.
Web technology has evolved towards a different direction. In the public this evolution has been named Web 2.0. This term does not describe a new type of technology, but has been used in a broad manner to describe a change to a more user centered focus. Among the benefits are improved customer and service orientation, increased user activities, easier communication and collaboration, better usability, faster performance, etc.
WebSphere Portal v7.0 offers several technical features that can be related to this next generation type of Web user interface as they greatly enhance the portal user experience:
Within portal, the Web 2.0 features are implemented as follows:
- The portal provides improved performance, as portal pages and portlets are rendered faster, and load is moved from the server to the clients.
- The user experience of the portal behavior is more similar to that of a desktop, as more logic is executed on the client rather than on the server.
- Due to new APIs, developing AJAX portlets becomes easier for portlet programmers.
- Faster rendering and performance
- Desktop like user experience
- Existing portlets that were written to the server side programming model can be tied in by using AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML). For example, such portlets can be refreshed individually rather than requiring the refreshing of the whole page
- The use of the portal Web 2.0 theme for portlets in the portal is optional. Server side aggregation is provided as a fallback option. For example, if the browser does not support JavaScript, the "old" portal rendering procedure is still available.
- Client side portlet programming model: You can use the client side programming model for portlets. You can do everything with the client side programming model that you can do with the server side portlet programming model. Additionally, the client side programming model has the following advantages:
- Improved user experience by faster responses and performance, as many interactions are processed on the client side rather than on the server.
- User customization of user profile, preferences, and changes to the portlet state are done locally, and therefore with a faster response time. A fragment that contains the customization is later sent to the server and saved.
- The user experience is consistent between both client side aggregation and server side aggregation. The user cannot tell the difference between CSA and SSA, except that CSA performs better.
- Live text: You can use live text. Live text provides elements embedded in portal pages that become active in the browser and are enhanced with additional functionality by JavaScript libraries. For example, if you include portal user IDs in portlet output and mark them as live text, users can click these IDs in the browser and see a person info card or a menu that allows them to send a mail to the person. Live text has the following advantages:
- Live text allows easier click to action.
- You can adopt new portal content within company more, as it is now easier to handle portal tags. For example, you can write tags and make them available centrally, and UI developers can reuse these tags for in their portlets for various purposes.
- Content editors can add meaningful live text elements to portlets without requiring portlet development knowledge.
- You can embed content from other sources, for example, from a HTTP or .NET server.
- REST services:
- Portal now offers the following REST services: Layout model, Portlet model, Content model, Navigation model, Wire model, User profile, composite applications.
- By the use of REST services you can write own advanced Web application and build it on top of REST (Representational State Transfer) services that provide the XML request information.
- REST services allow you to access portal models remotely for both read and write access. The Navigation model allows read access only; it is updated by changes made to the content model.
- Controller SPI: The Controller SPI is a public portal interface. It is not directly related to the Web 2.0 type of user experience, but it allows you to perform certain administrative tasks more.
Parent
Develop portlets