Advantage: SmartClient

These advantages set SmartClient apart from competitors. Also available is a list of features unique to SmartClient.

Mature, proven technology A successful proof of concept can be completed in any number of technologies. Delivering the final application requires hundreds of details to be exactly right, requires that a platform scales in complexity and user load, and requires a robust platform that doesn't collapse or leak memory in production.

SmartClient has been shipping as an embedded technology in our customers' products since 2002. Rather than success with narrow usage in internal applications, SmartClient has provided the entirety of the interface of major enterprise products.

No other technology can claim a track record like SmartClient. When the leader is clear and the leader is affordable, why settle for something second-rate? Ajax beyond Widgets Enterprises that think of Ajax as just "UI widgets" get into trouble quickly - we know, because our consulting team routinely rescues projects that failed to take into account the breadth of impact of Ajax on application architecture.

SmartClient extends far beyond mere UI widgets, providing a comprehensive data binding architecture, a powerful cross-browser toolset, metadata management that radically reduces duplication and complexity, and an optional Java-based server for accelerated integration with popular Java frameworks.

Start with SmartClient, master the architecture and understand what an Ajax platform should deliver - then you'll see there's simply no comparison. No cross-browser testing and debugging If it works in Firefox and doesn't work in Safari, that's our problem, not your problem.

A unique advantage of the SmartClient technology, the ability to fully shield your developers from cross-browser issues and debugging rests on 5 pillars, all key:

1. Comprehensive, extensible component model

SmartClient has all of the components necessary for building complete applications and provides the ability to build custom components without requiring Ajax expertise.

2. Clearly documented boundaries

Cross-browser safe functionality is useless if it is provided alongside unsafe facilities and your developers can't tell the difference.
SmartClient provides powerful facilities for doing low-level Ajax when absolutely necessary, but every such feature is clearly marked in the documentation, explaining exactly what can and can't be guaranteed when you use that feature.

3. Simplified skinning & branding

SmartClient's approach to skinning requires only rudimentary knowledge of page styling, sufficient to set colors and fonts. Even when deeply customizing look and feel, you don't have to deal with browser layout inconsistencies.

4. Cross-browser tools

SmartClient provides a uniform set of tools and diagnostics across all platforms. Developers learn a single toolset, and can communicate about issues without confusion.

5. Application-oriented, not browser-oriented

Frameworks that provide a thin wrapper over low-level Ajax facilities can't protect you from the worst and most pernicious of browser issues, such as timing-dependent bugs and memory leaks. Application-oriented APIs give SmartClient the flexibility to internally use whatever approach works best in each browser.

Countless Java, C# and PHP developers have picked up SmartClient and built applications without help from Isomorphic. Do you want to deliver an application or futz with the browser? Go with SmartClient and leave "ajax gurus" in the dust. Stable Platform Many Ajax frameworks routinely break with new browser releases as browser vendors introduce minor bugs in fringe functionality. With browser releases increasingly automatic and unavoidable, this means unnacceptable production downtime.

SmartClient is designed to rely on only the core functionality of browsers - functionality so basic that breaking it would break half the web - to prevent exactly this issue. Our track record proves it: versions of SmartClient released in 2003 continue to run unmodified at Fortune 500 sites, having survived the IE7 and Firefox 2.0 upgrades without issues.

Most other Ajax frameworks have dropped backwards compatibility with major new releases, sometimes multiple times. This is likewise unacceptable for applications with any longevity, as it implies a major porting effort just to get fixes and new features. SmartClient remains backwards compatible with 1.0 - from 2001.

When it comes to the rapidly shifting web platform, only a mature organization with a real design process can produce software that you can safely put into production. Complete solution SmartClient offers the complete set of GUI components, databinding systems and extension points necessary for the creation of full featured, robust Ajax applications.

Throwing together components from multiple sources creates a mish-mash of different programming paradigms, inconsistent look and feel, bizarre bugs and dependencies on multiple parties.

Picking a partial solution and extending it means you will create functionality that will be integrated into Ajax frameworks in the future, leaving you stranded with a custom solution you don't want to own.

SmartClient offers a single complete, consistent, extensible, skinnable system - today.

Get started today SmartClient is real, enterprise-grade Ajax: proven, complete, flexible and easy. SmartClient can radically accelerate your development of Ajax applications and help you deliver a world-class user experience. Explore SmartClient or download the SDK to get started with SmartClient today.