Java on the desktop

July 26th, 2008 | 6 Comments »

I’ve said before that the customers don’t care about the technology. To a certain extent, this is also true about the developers, especially when it comes to choosing the “right technology” for your next big project. If your team members have considerable experience with a specific technology, you’re much better off going with that instead of trying to learn the newest shiniest framework and making all the beginners’ mistakes (on the other hand, it never hurts to keep your eyes and mind open).

The case at hand – Woopra, the real-time Web tracking and analysis application. It has been called the Chuck Norris of Site Analytics and some promise that it will make you drool, and while a few reviews briefly mention that it is written in Java, nobody seems to care. And this is one of the best compliments the underlying technology can get – it is so good that you don’t even notice it. I’m not going to talk about Woopra’s features (although they are pretty nifty compared to Google Analytics). I’m just going to show a few screenshots that highlight the attention to visual details and the level of customization made possible in Swing. The live application feels great, with subtle animations, intuitive navigation and no UI freezes. Click on the thumbnails below to view the full size slideshow.

And while some ask if anyone really cares about desktop Java, others just use it to create good-looking and responsive applications.

Related posts:

  1. Java desktop wishlist for 2008 While the Java blogosphere is raging with debates on closures, properties and other negligible language-level...
  2. Java desktop spotlight – interview with Elie El Khoury of Woopra Woopra desktop client is my favorite Swing application of the year, and it’s time to...
  3. Java desktop wishlist for 2009 The original “Java desktop wishlist for 2008” was posted a little more than a year...
  4. Java desktop spotlight – interview with Sam Berlin of LimeWire I’ve talked about LimeWire in the latest installment of Swing Links of the Week, and...

6 Comments on “Java on the desktop”

  1. 1 Fabrizio Giudici said at 11:49 pm on July 26th, 2008:

    “And while some ask if anyone really cares about desktop Java, others just use it to create good-looking and responsive applications.”

    Can’t imagine a better answer ;-)

  2. 2 Elie El Khoury said at 1:50 am on July 27th, 2008:

    Thank you for this kind review!

    In fact, I passed through some of your Anti-Aliasing articles while I was developing this application.

    Contact me when you have time!

  3. 3 Veera said at 5:51 am on July 27th, 2008:

    That’s awesome. Great work from Woopra’s developer!

  4. 4 Panos said at 9:35 am on July 27th, 2008:

    Amazing application.

  5. 5 Adi said at 8:48 pm on July 27th, 2008:

    ”
    “And while some ask if anyone really cares about desktop Java, others just use it to create good-looking and responsive applications.”

    Can’t imagine a better answer ;-)”
    +1

  6. 6 Christophe said at 5:44 am on August 20th, 2008:

    amazing !
    I’m just trying to imagine this same application under Ocean ;)