Hey
I was recently asked by Chris Keene, to have a look at his piece of software called WaveMaker being the good person I am, I am going to give it a little write up to give me experience of what I think.
In a nutshell WaveMaker, as the title may imply, is a visual ajax studio which you can use to build web applications. It is very simple to set up and deploy and really easy to use. I mean easy. Each element you use to create the interface is a simple drag and drop. You drag your element into the main page, adjusts the settings and you are done. You then move onto the next piece.
Its all run within the web browser, but it has just been developed to run on a Mac. There is a small piece of software that runs at the beginning to get everything set up but its a no mess application. It does take a while to get used to how the program works and for uber-noob me when it comes to web applications I don’t really no what is going on. It was simple to use. I did end up with something very simple after messing about this morning.
There is some good documentation through the use of forums and tutorials. Which would have probably been a very good idea for me to read. They are in-depth and do explain some good points on how to use the programs. The demos that are also included are very useful.
It is a very niche product. Not something you would pick up to play with on a general basis. It does take a lot of learning and a lot of background knowledge to make something good and useful. But for any one who knows about web applications and ajax, this should be a super product. The only problem I find with the application is that the code it produces is very messy when you view it in a web browser. Other than that it very good on the surface. I haven’t had a real in-depth look, that might be a summer project. One final note this program is free and open source.
