Deploying Siebel Open UI > Features of Siebel Open UI > Siebel Open UI Server Deployment Characteristics >

Differences Between the Siebel Open UI Client and the High Interactivity Client

Some technical differences between the Siebel Open UI client and the high interactivity client are described as follows. See also Siebel Open UI Client Requirements.

This topic is part of Siebel Open UI Server Deployment Characteristics.

JavaScript Framework

Modern browsers and JavaScript-based applications perform very well in delivering functional, high-performance, and standards-based applications that do not require plug-ins or associated predeployment tasks (such as for ActiveX controls used in the high interactivity client). The Siebel Open UI client provides a flexible platform for employee, partner, and customer applications.

Hard-Coding Versus Flexibility

The Siebel Open UI client is more flexible than the high interactivity client, for which much of the functionality is hard-coded.

• High interactivity. This client is effectively a monolithic client: colors, borders, and fonts cannot easily be changed, and you cannot modify the behavior of the UI. This monolithic design enables a compact client, though it is not flexible.
• Siebel Open UI. In the Siebel Open UI client, all aspects of rendering can be controlled. Colors, fonts, borders, backgrounds, and the controls used for rendering can be exchanged to offer just about any user experience desired. This flexibility creates somewhat more overhead in regard to performance, when combining this attribute with improper application tuning. It is recommended to tune customized applications to take this into consideration.

Compiled Versus Interpreted Code

In the Siebel Open UI client, more of the code is interpreted than compiled, relative to the high interactivity client.

• High interactivity. This client is built using ActiveX, which is essentially Win32 compiled and proprietary code. Operations in this client can be processed very efficiently.
• Siebel Open UI. Siebel Open UI has a strong dependency on the performance of the browser's rendering engine. The information about browser performance provides guidance on choosing the best performing clients.

Accessibility

The support for WAI-ARIA standards for accessibility for the Siebel Open UI client changes the way in which the Siebel Business Applications support accessibility requirements. For more information, see Siebel Fundamentals for Siebel Open UI.