Hi Greg, If you want something as swish as what silverlight gives you, I don't know how you could achieve that easily without learning css and without using a responsive, progressively loading spa.
I personally do angular (currently at version 5) and it gives me everything that I need to build an impressive looking cross browser app. To support older browsers you use polyfills. I also use typescript, not javascript. Typescript is a better version of javascript. I chose angular because it provides the whole client side framework out of the box. The only other candidate that does this that is in wide-ish use is Aurelia. Other alternatives are React (use with another tech called Redux) and Vue. Microsoft now has a built in template for developing either angular or react with redux. You can get templates for Vue and Aurelia directly from the javascript services web site. I also use google material design as the user interface guidelines as it gives me a clean consistent user interface design framework for people that aren't that great at ui. Kind regards, Tony On 17 Nov 2017 9:14 AM, "Greg Keogh" <[email protected]> wrote: > Folks, we have a serious decision to make about the future directions of > our 10 year old Silverlight product that is in wide use in some big > companies. I told the boss I'd poll this forum for advice, so I'd really > appreciate serious comments from people in-the-know. > > The large companies using the Silverlight product are now locking down > security, so Internet Explorer is being banned and Edge adopted, which > means Silverlight is out (some employees are already being forced to use > the product from home). Our product is available as Xamarin authored tablet > and phone apps for three platforms, but they won't even allow our apps on > their company devices. > > So for the first time we are forced to produce a "browser based" version > of our product, which apparently is acceptable to their security policies > and audits. Here are some issues swirling in my head: > > - The backend services to drive the product are established. > - The UIs of other product versions are explorer (master-detail) > style, so it would be nice to maintain that feel in the browser. > - We have to display data in Excel-like tables and a variety of charts > (the richer and more interactive the better). > - Should we use server-side ASP.NET Web Forms or MVC to drive it? > - Should it be browser-side SPA? (you know I hate JS everything, so > there is personal resistance there). > - Could server-side and browser-side be combined to produce a better > hybrid experience? Are there things to help you do that? > - There are development platforms such as GTK and many others I guess > that I'm not familiar with. Are they viable? > - Other issues I'm forgetting? > > > I'm personally familiar with ASP.NET Web Forms and MVC, but not with > quality JS, layout or styling. Perhaps I could write a black-and-white > skeleton of the working product and then give it to someone to style and > script (I have done that once before). > > So in summary (I know this is a very broad question) ... if you were in my > position, how would you proceed to produce a browser based version of a > product? > > Cheers, > *Greg K* > >
