Comparison
- Alternate Solutions
- Similar Applications and Web 2.0
- Google Suggest
- AJAX Frameworks
- Competitive Chart
QuestFields is the only product available today that provides an end-to-end, programming and development-free solution for enhancing entry and search fields in web applications. This page compares QuestFields Server technology, and the derived QuestFields product, to various other technologies.
QuestFields Are an “End-to-End” Solution
As described on the architectural overview page, the QuestFields solution consists of several tightly-integrated parts: a Client, a Server, and a Protocol. These parts were designed to be compatible with the widest possible ranges of platforms, so that virtually all users of browser-based applications can take advantage of QuestFields.
- On the Client, QuestFields were designed to be easily configurable. Adding a QuestField to a web page is almost as easy as adding an image!
- The Server part of the QuestFields product can easily be configured so it accesses your existing databases. It runs transparently and seamlessly alongside your existing server applications and services.
- The standards-based Protocol used by the QuestFields product seamlessly and transparently links the Client with the Server over Internet, intranet, and mobile networks.
Alternate Solutions
QuestFields Server technology provides an easily configurable "black box" solution for significantly enhancing individual fields in your existing and new web applications. With high performance, low licensing fees, and only a few hours needed for installation and testing, QuestFields compare very favorably to alternate solutions:
- Groupware
Groupware solutions, such as Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes, and Novell Groupwise now offer modules that allow users to access your corporate information from within a web browser. These solutions typically carry high licensing fees, take over the entire browser window, and, through various restrictions, are not suited for public and ecommerce applications. In comparison, QuestFields allow you to easily make your data available in any HTML page, and are ideally suited for public and ecommerce applications.
- Standard Applications
Many vendors, including IBM, Verity, and SAP, offer portal software and search applications that can be used from within a web browser. These applications, again, typically take over the entire page, put limitations on the page layout, and carry high licensing fees. QuestFields can be used to bring specific data entry and search features from your Client/Server and Legacy applications to the web browser, with a maximum increase in performance and usability, and at low cost.
- Rich Internet Application Tools
In the age of "Web 2.0" and "Service Oriented Architectures" (SOA), an ever-growing number of vendors is offering programming tools and frameworks that allow development of highly interactive websites. These tools are either based on Internet standards and open-source technologies such as AJAX, or on specific platforms such as Adobe Flash, Microsoft .NET, ColdFusion, etc. These tools typically carry hefty price tags, require months of training and custom development, support only the latest browser versions, take over the entire HTML page, and often suffer from performance problems in high-load situations. In contrast, QuestFields offer a programming and development-free solution that is extremely performant, and that can even be added to your existing web pages at very low cost.
“
I just did a quick count of frameworks and libraries (...). Turns out there are 58 in pure Javascript and another 76 with back-end support in PHP, Java, or whatever. This includes 13 for .Net, and no less than 22 for each of PHP and Java.
Overall, that’s 134 Ajax frameworks and libraries out there, many of them under a year old!”
- Reusable Client Components
Various vendors provide "reusable components" that enhance the capabilities of HTML entry fields by adding drop-down lists and other features similar to those provides by the QuestFields client. However, these client components often pale in comparison to the features of the AutoSuggest QuestField. Perhaps more significantly, they do not include a server component nor an optimized protocol, and thus require significant custom development in order to achieve the usability, scalability, and performance of a QuestField.
- Custom Development
Using various open-source and proprietary development tools, extremely advanced interactive websites can be developed. A custom-developed solution requires years of training, months of development, and significant on-going maintenance. Further, supporting the various browsers in use on the Internet is a daunting task, so custom-developed solutions often only support a very limited user base. In contrast, QuestFields support the widest possible number of users out-of-the-box, at only a fraction of the cost of a custom developed solution. The QuestFields solution was built by a team of expert developers who invested many man-years on designing and improving the various components of the system. The QuestFields product was built using industry-standard tools and programming languages, including Java, JavaScript/DHTML, Flash, and AJAX.
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