can single page application concepts be used for creating standalone desktop applications?

Question

I'm looking to write a small desktop application for some colleagues to provide them with user interface screens to some command line utilities.

The application will have a menubar and a toolbar and a number of different wizards to help automate the desktop commands.

Previously, I would write the application in .NET Windows Forms, or Java Swing. However, I've been wondering if a single page application (SPA) would be suitable. I've read lots online about SPA's for interacting with servers, but not for creating standalone desktop applications.

Are there any gotchas with using SPA concepts for a standalone desktop applications?

Answer 1

There are several solutions that let you build a desktop app with web technologies. I suggest you have a look at this question: How to develop Desktop Apps using HTML/CSS/JavaScript?

Answer 2

A really nice and innovative example of a rich desktop application is RStudio.

It uses a thin C++ layer using QT, and delegates to GWT in Webkit for the main UI desktop area.

The source code for RStudio is here.