Windows Phone Thoughts: I am going fat again

Evolution of user interface is in an interesting phase. Fifteen years ago we went from character based DOS applications to Windows applications with a rich user interface. Then came the Web and initially we took quite a few steps back in terms of user interface richness. The first generation Web pages were, except for those ugly fonts, colors and frame borders, more or less on a DOS-level in terms of user interface. Web design has come a long way since then. The actual markup language (HTML) and the authoring tools have been significantly improved. During the improvments, Web applications have taken over the user interface battle against the so called "fat" Windows applications.

But as soon as we finally believe that the thin Web applications have totally overthrown the fat clients, we see a trend in the opposite direction. The trend is more visible from a mobile device perspective than from any other perspective. Given the small screen sizes, fat clients offer distinct advantages over thin Web applications. If you really wish to optimize the use of valuable screen estate, then it is a serious pain to get everything from overall application navigation to the smallest pixels right in Web applications. This is not so when building fat Windows applications.

The developer article "The Diminishing Importance of HTML" is an interesting read on the subject. The author, Rick Strahl, writes:
"What's Wrong with HTML as a Front End?
Although Visual Studio .NET makes it somewhat easier to build HTML-based Web applications, it is still far from simple. There are too many limitations in HTML's markup definition and no matter how fancy the wrapping is around the basic controls, HTML still produces an inferior interface to those found in desktop applications."

Let's discuss! I am going fat again. The previously seemingly obvious choice, Web application design, is no longer so obvious. At least not from a mobile device perspective. What do you think?