ASYLUM

* Do I Need To Draw You A Map, People?

OK, everyone and their dog is going to blog about this, but Google have once again raised the bar on interactive, "rich client" web applications. GMail and Google Suggest showed some of what is possible, but Google Maps is really impressive. A smooth scrolling, zoomable map of the United States (yes, I'd like the rest of the world, please) implemented wholly in dynamic HTML and JavaScript, no Java crapplets or Shockwave Flash is impressive enough. Add in the route-finding with popup detail windows and again, all without page-refreshes, and you're seriously starting to kick some ass. I'm not even sure what they're doing to render the overlay of your route — crazy JavaScript vector graphics? Or a second layer of transparent images, generated dynamically on the server?

Historically, I've been somewhat skeptical of web applications, because you've had to either go plugin-tastic (not really a web application any more, IMO) or put up with poor interactivity, irritating round-trip delays and the general clunkiness of an interface designed around "forms", which aren't exactly cutting-edge user-interface technology. But I've definitely been changing my mind over the last few months... I mean, DHTML Lemmings was a big clue, but that was purely client-side; it's the stuff that blends client-side code with fetching/streaming data asynchronously from servers that interests me.