Byrne Tony Byrne

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AJAX for Document Management

16-Sep-2005

Tags: Document Management (ECM), XML, , Content Manager Enterprise Edition

A UK reseller of FileNet document management systems called Altien has developed a nice, AJAX-based web interface atop the P8 repository (see 14-minute screencast). Document management consultants rightly criticize web-based interfaces as frequently less functional than client-server architectures for managing office and imaged documents -- "where's the drag-and-drop?" Well, here it is. AJAX is far from perfect; for example, the "back-button" problem that can bedevil standard web apps gets worse under AJAX, which is perhaps why Altien recommends turning off toolbars. Nevertheless one interesting thing about Altien's interface is that it seems to do most of what Mediasurface's thick client for web editing ("Morello") does. Mediasurface has won some big deals on the strength of Morello's familiarity for Windows users. So perhaps it's time to ask your content management vendor when they will provide a rich web interface. Don't hold your breath. FileNet and other ECM vendors can boast solid engineering teams, but little core competency in UI design. Maybe resellers will pick up the slack.

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