Rich Internet applications

Rich Internet applications (RIA) are web applications that offer users added value. RIAs can, for instance, provide extended drag & drop functionalities or carry out functions at the client end without the need to send further requests to a server and this means smoother execution.

RIAs usually require more memory space than simple HTML code, but this disadvantage is often compensated for by the fact that fewer requests are sent to the server during execution so that traffic savings can be achieved.

Some of the technologies which can be used with RIAs include, for instance:

• Java applets
• DHTML und JavaScripts
• Microsoft Silverlight
• Adobe Flex
• JVx (Java libraries)
• Google Web Toolkit