Thursday, 14. June 2007

about Eclipse and other rich client GUIs for the Semantic Web

In the last year, I was involved in many discussions revolving about the question of "how to make a semantic desktop gui". Semantic Web guis in general have to be dynamic, adaptive, generic, because the ontologies are changing and data of two ontologies can be mixed. This causes friction in software development, when all our frameworks and developers are used to relational databases or compiled Java beans that hold the information.

To gather my own thoughts for our NEPOMUK project I have prepared some slides to get an overview, a document summing up my view, and a screencast showing one framework. If you are interested in Semantic Web guis on the desktop, have a look. If you have a similar itch to scratch and want to join our open source projects, contact me!
QR barcode by i-nigma.com/CreateBarcodes
Dude (guest) - 14. Jun, 23:03

Desktop Applications

> generic, because the ontologies are changing and data of two
> ontologies can be mixed.

I'm wondering how that works out usability-wise. Generalization is something geeks and software developer rave about, but an UI is often more effective and comprehendible if it concentrates one thing and does that thing right. I don't believe in "You can manipulate all kinds of data with this UI and everything is generated" before I actually see it working.
For example, how do you want to generate an UI from an ontology? Simply adding controls and input fields for all properties won't suffice to make a usable interface.

"This causes friction in software development, when all our frameworks and developers are used to relational databases or compiled Java beans that hold the information."

Really? We're talking about the desktop, right? Neither Java beans (or Java in general) nor rational databases are the building blocks of today's desktop applications. It's rather C, C++ and the like. Rational databases might become part of it but haven't yet.

leobard - 22. Jun, 08:58

desktop and ontologies

thanks for the feedback, I agree here:
* hand-crafted guis are more usable than auto-generated
* Java is a minority on the desktop


When coming to "professional" software I disagree, especially with desktop ERP, CRM, Etc:
* MS-Outlook is build from standard components, the forms are a scripted assembly of components, the underlying basis is hardcore c/c++
* if you run SAP R/3 or Lotus Notes, most of the GUI is somehow auto-generated (not that R/3 is known for its top usability)
* We develop Java because we can run it on all platforms and its simple to program (comapred to c), so this is a development cost question
* Relational databases are sometimes embedded inside applications for easier programming.

Trackback URL:
https://leobard.twoday.net/stories/3839755/modTrackback

icon

semantic weltbild 2.0

Building the Semantic Web is easier together

and then...

foaf explorer
foaf

Geo Visitors Map
I am a hard bloggin' scientist. Read the Manifesto.
www.flickr.com
lebard's photos More of lebard's photos
Skype Me™!

Search

 

Users Status

You are not logged in.

I support

Wikipedia Affiliate Button

Archive

June 2007
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 2 
 3 
 6 
 7 
 8 
 9 
11
12
13
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
 

Credits


austriaca
Chucknorrism
digitalcouch
gnowsis
Jesus
NeueHeimat
route planning
SemWeb
travel
zoot
Profil
Logout
Subscribe Weblog