Client-Side Cornucopia: Comparing the Built-In Application Architecture Models in the Web Browser

The programming capabilities of the Web can be viewed as an afterthought, designed originally by non-programmers for relatively simple scripting tasks. This has resulted in cornucopia of partially overlapping options for building applications. Depending on one’s viewpoint, a generic standards-compatible web browser supports three, four or five built-in application rendering and programming models. In this paper, we give an overview and comparison of these built-in client-side web application architectures in light of the established software engineering principles. We also reflect on our earlier work in this area, and provide an expanded discussion of the current situation. In conclusion, while the dominance of the base HTML/CSS/JS technologies cannot be ignored, we expect Web Components and WebGL to gain more popularity as the world moves towards increasingly complex web applications, including systems supporting virtual and augmented reality.