HTML Application - Disadvantages

Disadvantages

Beside the advantage of programming applications in Internet environment programming languages, which can usually be easier, due to the use of markup languages to build a UI (like XAML, which was later presented by Microsoft as a part of WPF), there are a few disadvantages of the current standard of HTA:

• Only the main page of the project has the extension HTA, which means that only it can be modified with the properties of a GUI form.
• Opening new windows can be done only by JavaScript (and it might open it using the web browser). Linking to another page will open it in the same window.
• The engine of HTA files (mshta.exe) is completely dependent on Internet Explorer. In Windows Vista, for the first time, the user can remove Internet Explorer from Windows, which will cause a serious bug for the engine of HTA files.
• Using server-side scripting languages isn't a built-in option, and can only be done by running a local server at the moment the HTA file is opened.
• HTA files can't be compiled. The only solution that was found for that is to compress all of the files of the project to an SFX package. Another disadvantage of compiling an HTA is the fact that files inside the project can't be modified (modifying files usually can be done by server-side scripting languages, although the HTA engine has a permission to write files).