I have been a fan of Google Web Toolkit from the time they released their initial version in June 2006. I have developed more than 5 applications using GWT and related technologies like Ext GWT and GWT Ext. But I have decided to move on and use jQuery for my upcoming reverse bidding site http://negobuy.com/
GWT and GWT Ext are cool technologies and I am sure that these technologies are going to replace most of the Swing and SWT based desktop applications in the coming future. But when it comes to developing public websites GWT sucks! I did have a very bad experience of developing an SMS based viral marketing site, http://textitco.com for my client. So what is wrong it developing public website using GWT?
1) GWT complier converts the Java code into java script code which will basically manipulate the Dom. The JavaScript code generated are seldom recognized by any of the search engine including Google’s own search engine. This means that you will end up in creating a web application which is not visible to the public. I do agree that there are workaround for this, but while building an application similar to NegoBuy, these options may not be a feasible.
2) The search engine optimization (SEO) for a web page build with GWT is a pain. As the resulting pages have only minimum HTML code generated you will be in big trouble to optimize you pages.
3) The development time required for building pages in java is more than using markups like HTML and DHTML. Believe me I have been coding in java for more than 10 years and still say “Java isn’t meant for UI development”. Java was developed for solving more complex programming problems.
4) Also, with introduction of technologies like jQuery and YUI, developing web pages is a matter of couple of minutes.
5) GWT may not be the right option for developing a very dynamic web application like NeGoBuy.
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