Ben Allfree :: Painless Programming

I like what ExtJS is trying to do, and all the JS frameworks really. But is the browser really the right medium for rich applications? For that matter, are rich applications even the way to go? These are the big questions I ask myself when I work in frameworks like ExtJS that seem to have sparse walk-throughs on how to really use it to make a rich app. Maybe I’m spoiled but I don’t want to sit for hours figuring out someone else’s framework. I want a sample of how to do what I need to do.

When I don’t find it, I wonder if the whole thing is necessary at all. I question the basic assumptions that rich apps are better. Here are some snags I have run into with the ExtJS framework, even though I think it is swell:

* Nesting IFRAMEs inside Panels renders unreliably
* Layering IFRAMEs and SWF objects renders unreliably
* IE renders unreliably
* There are few examples of how to create deep structures of managed layouts

FireBug helps immensely in debugging this stuff, but still. It seems like there should be a better way through user interfaces.