I hope this post is appropriate for the group and if not, I apologize. I would enjoy a dialog concerning the architecture/design of web applications in general and using jQuery, in particular. I am posting to this group because after lurking for the past few weeks I appreciate the skill, knowledge and enthusiasm of the members of this group. So thank you for all the great info I have already received and thanks in advance for any ideas/thoughts you care to share.
Short background...I have been doing Windows applications since Windows 3.11. Currently I develop in VB.Net with various database backends (MS SQL, SQLite, Access, etc). I see the paradigm shift taking place from proprietary OS/language based applications (e.g. .Net) to open source/web based applications (e.g XAMP). Tools like jQuery and Ajax technology are facilitating and accelerating this paradigm shift. The challenge for me is to move from my windows based, forms driven design mentality to the stateless, web page based world view. And I believe the challenge for experienced web designers is to move from web site design to web application design. So perhaps this discussion will be beneficial to all involved. I have studied quite a few frameworks (mostly PHP/MVC based such as Codeigniter, Kohana, Smarty, etc) and I am not sure I really need one of those. When I contemplate my current design pattern, I find I use a main form with a master menu that allows the user to open various other forms to perform a specific activity. I open those forms modally. I use modal forms because my applications are not generic "office" type apps that require multipile windows open simulataneously (like Word or Excel allow). In fact, a beenfit of my applications are that they lead the user through their various activities (note, I program for the food industry so computer skills are often at a minium). My applications do allow multiple levels of modal forms but always the user is "directed" to and from the activity via my program flow control. I believe this may be a common design for many windows applications. I have studied the jqModal plug-in and Alexandre Plennevaux's tutorial on using this with an IFrame. It seems to me, I can emmulate my windows programming approach using a main page with navigation which launches various other pages using jqModal and Ajax. If that is possible, won't the stateless issue be resolved since I can use global variables on the main page to store autorization, activity, state, etc.? It seems this would be an exact fit to my current programming process. It also would not require a "framework" since my app is essentially the total framework. Does that make sense? Any comments are greatly appreciated. And, again, if this is too off topic, please let the thread die, I will understand. TIA, John Lee San Jose, CA PS Anyone in the SF Bay Area using jQuery who might want to get together once in a while to share ideas and discussions?
