A web application is any application that uses a web browser as a client. The application can be as simple as a contact form , or as complex as a shopping cart or content management system.
The 'client' is used in client-server environment access, use and manage the application. A client-server environment is comprised of multiple computers that share information. The 'client' is the application used to enter the data, and the 'server' is the application used to store and retrieve the data.
A web application relieves the developer of the responsibility of building a client for a specific type of computer or a specific operating system. Since the client runs in a web browser, the user could be using a Windows based computer or a Mac. They can be running Windows XP or Windows Vista. They can be using Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari, though some applications work better with one browser or another while some may require a specific browser.
Web applications generally use a combination of server-side script (PHP, Perl, ASP, etc), a server-side database and client-side script (HTML, Javascript, jQuery, etc.) to develop the application. The client-side scripts take care of presentation of the information while the server-side script does all of the procesing, storing and retrieving of information and data.
What are web service applications?Web services are applications and widgets that are available over the Internet from service providers such as Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Some of the available services include:Most credit card processors such as Authorize.net, PayPal, 2CheckOut.com and others: |
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Most service providers allow you to display some or all of their content on your site or application and provide methods to allow access to their content. For instance you can use Google Maps to show your location or to provide your clients with door-to-door driving directions. You can share your calendar(s) with others through your own website or application. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter both allow integration of you accounts with them into your website or application, so you can put your "Facebook Wall" on your website with the ability to post to your "Wall" from your own website.