business (document management) application in rails

Hi, I'm a student with no real experience in developing serious enterprise apps.. still now I have the possibility to try.. Here's my question: I'm building a rails app that connects to a database, and is essentially a front end to it, to manage projects and related documents. The interface in xhtml/css/javascript is a nightmare. I need complex stuff, like tables with resizeable columns, sorting, and all that stuff .. for dozens of tables.. and cross browser compatibility isn't easy.

I thought to use remote XUL. It's mozilla only, I know, but that's not a problem.

Do you have any opinion about it? Some first hand experience? Are you aware of any nasty bug / missing feature or security concerns?

In short, what do you think?

thanks Luca

Have you ever looked at GoogleDocs?

It's just HTML/CSS/JS, don't overestimate what you really need to do :wink:

Seriously, if you'll really have a complex interface, any technology you select is going to be hard to work and customize. Why not just write a desktop app to do that?

well, my app should be used from everywhere in the world.. not easily accomplished through desktop applications (establish secure connections to remote database), and moreover it'll be updated frequently, and I certainly don't want to make people keep installing new versions...

any other comment? Luca

Flex? Silverlight? JavaFX?

There's a load of "rich client" options if you think HTML/CSS/JS isn't going to solve your problem.