Backpack

A short look at the implementation of the new "uber" web application.

This entry was first published on June 02, 2005, 12:30 AM, CET and categorized as Code, Rant, Web.

So far, 1 comments have been added to this entry. You can add your thoughts to the discussion below.

So finally I got the time to check out the highly praised highly raved Backback and I am pretty disappointed by its utilization of available technologies. The following are my thoughts on the way Backpack is implemented that hit my mind while spending a few minutes in it

Abusing links to run code

Links should be used for navigation between pages only, not to execute some JS code. And no, IE's lack of :hover support for other than the A element does not justify the choice: the application requires JS already so a few (more) supportive event handlers would not hurt anyone. At least the Google Web Accelerator debacle did add some fun to it.

Good use of the XMLHTTPRequest object?

Lots of people hail Backback as a good example of the new web: using the XMLHTTPRequest object to cut down page loads and build a more responsive application. But is it really a good example? No. The best example is the way the todo lists are implemented: manipulating an item results in a reload of the whole section — noticeable when marking an item as done: it takes ages (as compared to the expected instant changes) for the checkmark to appear checked and there is no visual feedback for this operation at all. The same applies to the list reordering: the user clicks an arrow and expects an instant move of the item, but there is nothing. Instead, the server is hit and spits out the list in the new order; This does not save many resources on the server nor does it take advantage of the benefits of asynchronous operations.

A better way would be to do the manipulation on the client and let the server acknowledge the changes; or at least letting the server sending the actual changes back only. The current implementation is not very different from a full page reload, while the full reload gives a better feedback though.

Closing thoughts

While I like the simplicity of the UI (maybe because it resembles the one of Microsoft Office OneNote 2003) the implementation seems to be too heavily rooted on classical HTML programming patterns. If this is the start of the "Web 2.0", then I am not very excited about the near future and keep my hopes on "Web 3.0" to improve the users experience.

At least I am not the only one who noticed the lack of immediate feedback in the UI.

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  1. KyleK, 1 week later

    Thanks for reminding me to check out backpackit.com. I had (of course) totally forgotten about it.
    I do agree that speed is still an issue on the site, especially since not the whole page is updated and it still takes about a second for something to happen. I'm quite sure though it'll get better in time.
    Now if only Rainlendar would support webacal:// adresses... :/