Develop desktop applications view with HTML, as a web application

Question

I am used to develop web applications in Java (Struts, Spring, JSP...). But now I want to develop a desktop one. I never liked to design windows in Java (AWT, Swing, SWT): too much work for an ugly interface. So I think it could be a good idea if could take advantage of my web-app skills. One option is to modify the SWT Browser and make calls to a Java function instead of HTTP requests. A very good add-on would be use of JSP. Finally, I thought that probably there is some framework or tool for this.

Do you think that what I propose is a good idea? There is available some framework for this?

I need this for light applications. So I think that embedding an Tomcat server and using it with HTTP requests is not a good idea.

Edit: One example application could be a folder comparer: you specify two folders and the app shows you which folders and files are different. In this case, I think opening an external browser is ugly. Bloated application (with its server, MVC, etc) wouldn't be the best choice.

Answer 1

If you have used the JavaScript library - ExtJs - then you can use it with Adobe AIR to build good looking desktop based web app.

Building app's in Adobe AIR is also simple and elegant with the flex builder ide.

Answer 2

If your option goes to embed a light server, check winstone is not fully J2EE compliant but should be enough for what you need. About the browser, I am not a big fan of swt myself, it complicates a lot cross-platform deployment, so probably worth to keep an eye on jwebpane, not quite ready yet, but probably the solution you'll need.