ANYONE THAT HAS been keeping an eye on the development of rich internet applications (RIAs) will know that they are beginning to make themselves felt in the online retail space. eCommerce sites have been looking for the next big thing in their market sector and RIAs could offer the interactivity that commercial sites have been waiting for. The wall between the desktop and the webtop is finally crumbling.

The Web 2.0 paradigm that has moved through the web to create the social networking sites that have become part of the fabric of the internet is now taking on a more commercial stance. What began as a social phenomenon is quickly becoming a commercial imperative as well. However, Actinic CEO Chris Barling says, “There are several drivers of rich internet applications. They are the availability of bandwidth, the availability of budget and the roll-out out of eCommerce across mobile and other devices. There are some limits to what will be deployed, as the cost of developing both features and content is an issue for all retailers. We have yet to see the balance between cost and benefit emerge.”

Mark Jeffries, CTO Fasthosts Internet also commented, “Newly developed RIAs are sure to enhance the eCommerce process further by making online shopping a more interactive and visual experience. Web 2.0 promises greater interaction and user participation, and online communities will feature heavily. eCommerce websites will need to evolve and integrate in order to offer a broader and more compelling user experience.” Nigel Grace, managing director at Human Factors International says, “Companies have traditionally controlled how their products, services and brands were portrayed online through their website’s design and content. RIAs provide new ways to interact beyond the constraints of standard web technologies. In terms of eCommerce sites, these collaborative capabilities enable businesses to create a sense of community on their websites to draw customers in. At the same time, they give customers more control over their online experiences with companies and their brands. eCommerce sites must make use of the principles of emotional design and persuasive architecture. Companies need to understand the power of online communities to drive business to their site and utilise attributes such as consumer reviews to influence customers’ decision-making.”

Increasingly, commercial websites are using more media to enhance their sites and differentiate themselves within an increasingly crowded marketplace. QVC now use embedded video to link customers to their TV store, but ever more sophisticated technologies that RIAs offer will place some of this functionality on the desktop.

Andrew Shorten, platform evangelist at Adobe says, “We’ve already seen that rich internet applications can make a huge impact on eCommerce websites when used to overcome usability issues imposed by technical limitations with HTML; for example, making a selection from large product inventories, configuring complex products with thousands of different permutations and navigating through the order/checkout process are all areas where RIAs have been used with great success. The adoption of RIAs will continue as companies connect the relationship between the quality of the user experience with the increased sales and profits.”

The use of RIA techniques can already be seen. Sites like Volkswagen UK (www.vw.co.uk/used_cars/find), Siblu Holidays (www.siblu.com/price_and_book. php), Anthropologie (www.anthropologie.com) and Harley Davidson (www.harley-davidson.com/pr/gm/ customizer/launchCustomizer.asp) all illustrate how RIAs can be successfully be introduced into a commercial site and enhance its usability, as Ané-Mari Peter, managing director and co-founder at on-idle (www.on-idle.com) describes, “RIA technology is about improving usability.

We must assume that with usability, accessibility is fundamental component – some might argue that it should not even be seen as a separate issue. AJAX offers excellent scope for simple accessibility integration in relation to Flash, but Flash has made great strides to the extent that implementing accessibility is no longer a development headache, simply another cog in the wheel that needs planning, development time and budget like any other component.”

Initially, RIAs will bring a seamless execution of the shopping experience to the web for the first time. Simply being able to move through the shopping cart and checkout process is still not as intuitive as it could be. Consumers still complain about system errors and a lack of help when they want to buy something online. RIAs, if implemented properly, should sweep these problems away once and for all. As consumers get used to using apps online just like their desktop counterparts and embrace the online webtop paradigm, they will increasingly demand this kind of functionality on the commercial sites they visit. They simply won’t stand for sites that put barriers in their way. After experiencing the ease of use that social networking sites offer, consumers will begin to ask why their favourite eCommerce sites remain in what looks to them as a functional dark age. It is then that RIA development will reach critical mass.

For web designers, RIAs provide a challenge that will mean a major updating of their skills. But does this mean you will have to become a developer of desktop apps as well as being a more traditional web designer as the demarcation line between the two disappears? Adobe’s Andrew Shorten doesn’t think so. “What designers will need to do, however, is understand the desktop as a creative medium and how it is both similar to and different from designing content and applications for the browser. With a forthcoming tool codenamed ‘Thermo’, Adobe is looking to make the process of moving from the visual design of a RIA through to development far easier; as the web and desktop merge, the key will be enabling designers and developers to work collaboratively so as to deliver the next generation of rich internet applications.”

Siim Vips, CEO at Modera (www.modera.net) also said, “I wouldn’t say that web designers will have to double as desktop application developers – just as a Flash developer doesn’t have to specialise as a Rails guru. Most people, not just in the web design industry, have their own specialist areas of interest and expertise. Good RIAs are using CSS skins to control the layout and colour schemes and this should be a part of designers’/web coders’ everyday routine already.”

What is clear is that the user interface will increasingly take centre stage in a commercial world filled with RIAs. From a designer’s perspective, whether their creations sit on a server or on a customer’s computer may become immaterial as on-idle’s Ané-Mari Peter pointed out: “RIA is a godsend for an interface/web application designer. It is unlikely that specialist designers will be able to train in Flash and AJAX to the scripting level required to integrate, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. The principles of interface design and workflow on which designers had to compromise previously can now be encoded and implemented. Designers can apply traditional design skills and developers can apply new technology. This will ultimately result in faster, more intuitive, more interactive and more thought-through applications – where they are placed becomes almost irrelevant.”

The use of RIAs in a commercial online environment is moving through a trial phase as businesses test the new technologies and techniques that RIAs seem to offer. However, as Actinic’s Chris Barling points out, in the end if the new technology doesn’t make money for these sites, it won’t achieve critical mass. “eCommerce sites are firmly fixed on a simple and highly measurable objective. They are there to make sales. Use of RIA technology must aim at growing sales by either improving the conversion rate or growing the average order value. If they don’t achieve that, they may reduce sales, which would be worse than useless. An approach that is definitely wrong is to implement technologies just because they are there. Improving business results should always be the driver.”

As a new field of design and commerce, RIAs are the new kid on the coding block, but a kid that looks set to revolutionise how we all use the commercial aspect of the web. What will begin as new and improved shopping carts to reduce cart abandonment and enable online retailers to break the Back button will evolve into a new way of commercialising the web.