Frameworks for "Non-Content Oriented Web Apps"

[mirnazim at gmail.com]

Well, I think a we can say that a framework for "Non Content Oriented
Web Apps" is something that can help in
(*) creating N tier data aware web applications
(*) creating data-aware controls (forms etc.).
(*) managing different data sources transparently(ZODB,
MySQL,PostGreSQL, etc).
(*) de-coupling UI, Business Logic and Data Sources from each other.
(*) provide transaction management facilities(am I asking too much).
(*) etc. etc. etc.

Please note that "DATA is not CONTENT" here.

I agree that with a little imagination, we can accomplish that in
context of the content(what most web frameworks are meant for, help in
serving dynamic content), but that requires attention to the details
not related to the problem.

Just as another attempt to clear what I mean by "Non Content Oriented
Web Apps", please consider the following example.

Suppose you are hired to build an ERP system, whose user interface will
be completely web based.

Now let me ask you a few question(humbly).

Q1) What tools would you want to use that can ease up the development
in terms productivity, timeliness, quality, etc?

Q2) Would you not like to think about the ERP system as an ERP system?

Q3) How would it be like if you have to thinking of the ERP system in
context of pages of a web site?

Q4) Will It not be the waste of time in mapping the functionality of
ERP in terms of content(and that is what we do when we develop such an
application to run on web).

Q5) Last(but not definitely the least), will it not be just ugly.

Of course, we can develop the whole ERP with plain cgi and people have
done it and succeeded to a good extent.

Moreover, I recently saw Dabo(http://www.dabodev.com/about), a
framework for developing 3 tier apps with Python and wxPython(and other
supported GUI toolkits). I have not tried it but I think something
similar, but for web-apps, is a close definition of "A Framework for
Non-Content Oriented Web Apps".