The world of web development is moving away from MVC-based web architectures and towards a client/server model that is probably best described as RIA + SOA, where RIA represents the rich user interface and SOA represents the services that it consumes.

There has been a lot of buzz around rich Web 2.0 applications, but they will not become mainstream until the next generation of web platforms emerge - fully integrated platforms that enable RIA + SOA.

State of the Union

        1.  Design the "look" of the application
This is the general appearance of an application.  It includes things like: color, fonts, graphics, and a general page layout.
Common toolsets: HTML, CSS and images 

2.   Integrate Widgets
Widgets encapsulate a set of common capabilities within a single component.  They typically contain both “look and feel” as well as a set of pre-defined dynamic behaviors.  They are a fundamental building block of an RIA.
Common toolsets: ExtJS, Dojo, Yahoo YUI and several other small widget projects

 
3.  Add dynamic behavior to the user interface
Creating dynamic behavior in the user interface involves two things:

• Event handling
  
• Document Object Model (DOM) Manipulation

Event handling is the ability to know when a particular event occurs (e.g., a user clicks a button or a service response is received).  DOM Manipulation allows you to dynamically change the user interface based on the receipt of an event.
Common toolsets: Javascript libraries like JQuery, Prototype, and Scriptaculous

 
4.  Consume services
Consuming backend services is a key capability of an RIA.  It enables the creation of single page user interfaces that exchange application data with services. It also enables a clean separation between the user interface and the service tier.  The most common method for interacting with services is Ajax.
Common toolsets: Javascript libraries like JQuery and Prototype

 
5.  Create services
Services provide an interface to data and application business logic.
Common toolsets: There are several frameworks available for creating services in your programming language of choice

Now that we have a sense of what is required to build RIA + SOA-based applications, we can take a look at how these activities should be integrated in order to provide the most value to developers.  The following sections outline the defining characteristics of a next-generation RIA + SOA platform.