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timpishon Web application architecture (subdomain vs. sub directory)

kls,

You've certainly taught me a thing or two. I never knew Javascript had such limitations across (sub) domains. There's an old article on it here: http://radio.javaranch.com/pascarello/2005/12/30/11359624608...

timpishon Ask HN: We realised one of our pet projects. How to market this?

Cool! I would say get out of the building and bring this to some schools. Get it in front of kids and TEACHERs. They might be your best evangelists. One TEACHER has many STUDENTS who have twice as many PARENTS who have checkbooks.

Also, it would be especially cool if each background graphic related to the sentence presented -- like a second tier for reinforcing the learning experience.

timpishon Web application architecture (subdomain vs. sub directory)

Thanks for all your comments!

Is there an argument to be made in favor of either approach as regards security?

I was thinking of a URI component structure that would use each customer's office address/credentials (gathered at sign up) e.g., coolapp.com/john/doe/MD/Newton/MA/02158/

timpishon Web application architecture (subdomain vs. sub directory)

I agree somewhat, but I think it's mostly due to precedence. There are plenty of examples of URI component set ups that are (and feel) secure (gmail on https for one).

timpishon Web application architecture (subdomain vs. sub directory)

Good point. In my case, it's really more document management based, i.e., each app instance (customer) has many clients whose private data they will be managing after it has been posted.

timpishon Web application architecture (subdomain vs. sub directory)

Wildcards have come down a lot in price. I think you can get one for about $200 now. I'll probably need one anyway since nearly the entire service is going to be on https

timpishon Web application architecture (subdomain vs. sub directory)

How is this different with an RIA vs non-RIA web app? You mean like something in Flash or Flex vs HTML? Not sure I get what you mean.

Are you saying it's more work for a localized app (coolapp.com/customer1/) to interact with services.coolapp.com than with coolapp.com/customer1/services. And does the latter imply that there would be massive redundancy or can one go about routing queries to avoid that?

timpishon Web application architecture (subdomain vs. sub directory)

"* In my experience it's easier to mod-rewrite and pass $1 than a DNS and parse a hostname" You lost me there. Can you explain? I like your points in favor of URI components.

timpishon Web application architecture (subdomain vs. sub directory)

so does point a) imply that scaling/load balancing is easier with subdomains? Is "adding a DNS alias" easy to do on a localhost or would it require a different scripting than on a live server?