What about &#106avascript (AJAX)?

Ajax eh? Doesn't that require a specific server software configuration to drive the client web page(s) as well as a lot of &#106avascript on the web page(s)?

Is there a developement environment that 'handles the whole job' of Ajax from and backend? I have seen Ajax components in Visual Web Developer but they seemed to be some useable components, and not an full Ajax suite of solutions.

Quote:Original post by raleglover
With IE8 out (Silverlight is included) and Windows 7 soon to release I'm sure the landscape will look quite different in 12 months. Too bad I my needs are a little more urgent:-)

It took Windows XP about 3 years to gain a market share of 50%, a market share which Vista will most likely never even reach. Windows XP is still fine for most consumers, and will receive updated until 2014 if I remember well, so I don't expect W7 to have a market share of over 50% in the first year while XP took 3 years. New plugins/versions have a slow adoption time, just look at IE6 that is still being used even (although much less) though there is a free upgrade. Frustrating is you are wanting to use something that has newer requirements, but not much you can do about (you could try "install this" or "upgrade now" banners, but that doesn't mean all visitors will do that and if you aim for a large potential market your requirements should meet what the average person has).

As for &#106avascript/AJAX, the need for AJAX depends a bit on your type of game. AJAX is ussed for communication between client (browser) and server. Some games require this, but other can be run fully client side. You could use jQuery for the front-end if you want to save time, as for back-end it depends on the requirements, you could use a framework, but if it's only small logic or a database connection that is required a simple php script can do the trick as well. But again, it depends on the exact type of game how much needs there is for server<>client communication during the game.

How about a Java Applet? It has a larger install base than silverlight.

Have a look at RuneScape, which is a full-blown 3d MMO running inside a web browser (with very low system requirements).

Quote:Original post by raleglover
Ajax eh? Doesn't that require a specific server software configuration to drive the client web page(s) as well as a lot of &#106avascript on the web page(s)?

Not really, at least nothing revolutionary. You can use almost anything for server, PHP, ASP, Servlets, as long as it's HTTP.

Quote:Is there a developement environment that 'handles the whole job' of Ajax from and backend? I have seen Ajax components in Visual Web Developer but they seemed to be some useable components, and not an full Ajax suite of solutions.

JQuery, as mentioned, offers a fairly comprehensive set of tools. It will be (apparently) delivered as part of Visual Studio 2010.

I didn't look at your application, but networked card games are perfectly doable using AJAX.