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.

Within portal, the Web 2.0 features are implemented as follows:

• Client side portlet programming model: We can use the client side programming model for the portlets. We can do everything with the client side programming modes that we 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 containing the customization is later sent to the server and saved.

  • The user experience is consistent between both client side aggregation and server side aggregation.

• Live text: We 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 the 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.

  • We can adopt new portal content within the company more easily, as it is now easier to handle portal tags.

    For example, we 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.

  • We can embed content from other sources, for example, from a HTTP or .NET server.

• REST services:

  • Portal offers many REST services, such as Layout model, Portlet model, Content model, Navigation model, Wire model, and User profile.

  • By the use of REST services we can write our own advanced Web application and build it with REST (Representational State Transfer) services that provide the XML request information.

  • REST services allow us 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 us to perform certain administrative tasks more easily.

• The client side portlet programming model
  We can use the client side programming model to make use of AJAX techniques in the standard and IBM portlet API portlets.
• HTTP proxy for AJAX applications
  One of the basic technologies that have emerged in the context of the next generation web user interface is AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML). Using AJAX can increase the responsiveness and usability of the web applications.
• Live text for click-to-action
  IBM WebSphere Portal supports a live text API for user controlled data transfer between components. With live text, a component on a page can declare sources and targets for data transfer.

  For example, this can be a portlet or a navigation element. When the user clicks on a source element, the portal displays a menu listing targeto that match the selected source. When a menu item is selected, the portal invokes the corresponding target passing it the source data. This process is called Click-to-Action (C2A).

Parent: Develop portlets