[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Staff client software vs. web-based interface

[Jason Etheridge]

> Besides what Thomas mentioned, are there any features that are possible with a client, but impossible though an admin website in a regular web browser?

Originally, there was a sentiment against web apps by the librarians
who built Evergreen, so we faked things with xulrunner, and got some
web goodness like HTTP and CSS but with native looking widgets.  I
think apps like gmail and google maps have turned people around on
that.  At the time, offline mode, local storage, decent audio prompts,
prompt-free printing, thought of incremental printing, and thought of
interfacing with other peripherals like cash drawers were also
concerns.  The web has since bridged a lot of the gap here, but XUL
was a contender for being that bridge a long time ago. :-/  I'm ready
for the next big thing (putty+ncurses, hooah), but it'd take a lot of
effort/resources to replace what we have.

-- Jason