The FreshBooks development team works on changes to the rich internet application with the help of a test user.

It may not seem like a big change — in fact, we may not even notice as it goes mainstream. But the concept of the rich internet application (RIA) promises to transform the online experience as we know it.

In simple terms, RIA is an application that is accessed through a web browser, but which still delivers the speed and capabilities that you'd expect if the program were installed and running on the your own desktop computer.

This desktop widget from AOL Music, built with Adobe's AIR technology, is a rich internet application that lets visitors click on thumbnails of the top 100 music videos to view them, create their own playlists and send clips to friends.

Depending on the RIA application, you might perform cost-benefit calculations for a project, drag and drop items to customize a product on-screen before ordering it, take workplace training sessions, or collaborate on files or a presentation with a co-worker, all without ever having to leave your web browser or install software on your computer.

In fact, people are already seeing the beginnings of RIA each time they check out Google Maps, book a reservation with ihotelier.com, or scout out new computer products on the Dell e-commerce site.

Streamlining the web

If one puts the technology ins and outs aside, all most users really need to know is that rich internet applications are a lot faster and more interactive than the average website has been in the past — and you don't need to download software or install updates. The program may download small snippets of code to your computer to help it run more smoothly, but it's all handled automatically in the background so that when you log in to the website you'll always be using the latest version of the application.

"Interaction [with the web] has snappiness to it," says John Lax, a partner with Teehan + Lax in Toronto, describing his experience with RIA. "It feels fast and has some punch."

While RIA seems like a simple idea, getting a high level of performance from a fully featured program running through a web browser has been a long time in the making. Big guns like Microsoft and Adobe have spent years perfecting development platforms (Silverlight for Microsoft, Flex for Adobe) to compete with mainstays like JavaScript in bringing RIA to the web world.

Mike Downey, group manager for platform evangelism at Adobe in San Francisco, says one of the early adopters of RIA that "really kicked off the idea" was the ihotelier.com reservation system. "People can navigate through the reservation process without having to do page refreshes — it's all done in a single screen and works intuitively like desktop productivity tools."

Since then a number of others have followed suit, creating web-based systems for users that cut out the need for manual page refreshes when information is updated, or the constant toggling between web pages to conduct a transaction or configure a new computer for purchase.

"It's only in the last year that RIA has really caught fire," Mike Relph, vice-president of the developer and platform group at Microsoft in Mississauga says. "Until recently, it was hard to do things like cutting and pasting or drag-and-drop inside the browser, because the technologies weren't available. [Web developers] are now pushing the boundaries of what we consider is capable inside the browser."

Redrawing the browser's boundaries

Relph is among many in the industry who believe that RIA has significant implications for consumers, information workers and organizations as a whole. Since people are already comfortable with instant messaging, social networking and audio-visual content on the web, RIA is just a natural evolution of the online world, he says.

According to a report from market research company Forrester, The Business Case for Rich Internet Applications by Ron Rogowski, RIAs are becoming an attractive proposition for a lot of reasons. First, people know and like them — 52 per cent of online consumers have already used highly interactive applications like Google Maps and Zillow.com and say they enhance the web experience.

In addition, RIAs enable things that plain HTML web pages can't, including improved data visualization and streamlined processes that allow the user to interact with things like documents and images.

Third, they deliver results. Early adopters are reporting strong metrics that show improved sales and consumer uptake on websites that employ RIA. Forrester estimates that RIA product configurators on a site, for example, can increase the number of conversions of inquiries into orders by 10 to 20 per cent and boost the average order size up to five per cent, as well as reduce call centre costs.

For the consumer, the real RIA-related change will be in the kinds of powerful interactive experiences that can be delivered over broadband and mobile connections.

On the business side, rich internet applications allow workers to "push" documents to an online workspace, edit and share content, and make presentations over the web.

Enterprises such as large corporations or institutions can use RIA to deliver web-based interactive training and other programs to anyone, anywhere, anytime.

Development costs

Despite all of its capabilities and advantage, RIA is still not an easy sell, however. For one thing, it's an expensive proposition and development skills are in short supply.

Forrester reports that RIA development costs can vary from $50,000 for small in-page applications to more than $500,000 for complex online product configurators. This cost includes the "flex" building tools themselves, additional data services and CPU requirements, installation and training. Since quantifiable business cases are also hard to find, uptake is often a matter of taking a leap of faith on the part of a business.

Tedde Van Gelderen, managing partner for Toronto-based design consulting company Akendi, confirms that there are many businesses that should be deploying RIA and haven't yet taken the plunge.

Rich internet applications allow web designers to create sites with interactive elements such as this puzzle. People can click on the pieces and move them around on the screen to complete the puzzle.

"It's still very early days for this, and we're nowhere near [any serious level] of adoption," he says. "I'd say it will be five to eight years before it hits mainstream."

He believes that the biggest driver behind the shift to RIA is the growing expectation on the part of users in terms of what they can do at a website.

"It [the web] is not just about information," he says of the public's increasing demands. "People expect them [sites] to have the same functionality and level of interaction as desktop applications. They want to be able to click on a button and have information pop up in the same window. Or move things around on screen, enter values, submit content and receive instant updates."

Another aspect of RIA is that it pulls information from a lot more sources than you might expect, says Van Gelderen. For example, an RIA map could display stores and restaurants within a specific area, but also provide detailed navigation information from the user's current location to a specific business that takes into account the current traffic conditions and calculates the best route. It could also pull in customer relationship management data on the user's purchasing habits or dining preferences and combine it with information from specific local businesses so that personal messages, purchasing recommendations or specials would be highlighted on the same map. This is slick from the user's point of view and it can boost sales for a business, but it typically requires much more development time than an old-style web page that simply shows the location and phone number of stores and restaurants.

Mike McDerment, founder and CEO of FreshBooks in Toronto, has been working for some time building up RIAs for his online invoicing and time tracking services. He agrees that a vast majority of websites are simply not taking advantage of the new technologies, but also says it's not a simple decision for them to make.

"It [RIA technology] is really in its naissance," McDerment says. "What we're all gunning for though is a [web-based] experience that's not painful. For our company it's about delivering a painless billing experience — and RIA is helping us do that."

"I really believe RIA is a differentiator that enterprises can use to set themselves apart," says Lax. "There is a lot of parity in some industries, where services have become commoditized. Banking, for example, is a mature business so it's difficult to innovate around products. But having a technology that helps customers do business with them more easily — that's one way they can innovate."

He adds, "All of this will have huge implications for consumers, but there's a lot that needs to happen and a lot of technology to be built for this world to come to life. The fact is, customers won't even care or know how it's done — nor should they. They just want it to work."