Programming Social Applications

Use a Blended Client-Server Environment

Other than employing iframes to protect application content from malicious code attacks, several containers add layers of protection by securing client-side code and markup. One such project, Caja (see Chapter 8), aims to mitigate concerns over the security of iframes. Securers like Caja work by rewriting the client-side code base to a secure version, causing a larger code base to be used. These securers increase load time beyond the natural overhead imposed by the loading of the container itself.

On the other hand, loading an initial social data set and visual layer through a server-side implementation, executing requests to REST social endpoints, will decrease load time on application startup.

Once the application has loaded, using AJAX functionality through either the OpenSocial toolset or standard AJAX requests will allow it to communicate seamlessly with the server as the user interacts with it.