[GRASS-dev] GSoC 2014: GRAS GIS Web UI

[Glynn Clements]

Vaclav Petras wrote:

> Second, if we would decide to go the way of the full GUI (which resembles
> current wxGUI), wouldn't be better to use something like GTK+ GDK Broadway
> (1) to just reuse the desktop GUI on web,

Broadway is probably far too heavyweight. It's basically a "remote
desktop" approach (the X server runs on the client, but you still have
a persistent GUI application for each user running on the server).

Also, it behaves like a desktop application which is exported to a web
browser, not like a web application. The end result is almost
identical to using a desktop application via ssh with X forwarding; if
there's any advantage to Broadway, it's that it simplifies the
connection setup.

Basically, it's a question of "thin client" (Broadway, ssh -X, VNC,
etc) versus "thick client" (web browser). Both have their pros and
cons, but a thin-client solution isn't really worthy of a GSoC project
IMHO (thin client approaches typically target an entire desktop
environment rather than specific applications).

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn at gclements.plus.com>