For those developers that want native html applications, many alternatives are available.

One solution is using JDeveloper and Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF). For more information, visit the J2EE Application Development for Forms and Designer Developers OTN site.

Another alternative that should be considered is Oracle Application Express. If you are unfamiliar with Oracle Application Express, you can gain an understanding of its key features here.

If your project has the following:

• IT Professionals with extensive SQL and PL/SQL knowledge
• Limited object orientation programming expertise
• Based upon tables stored in one Oracle database

Feature	Oracle Forms	Application Express	Description
4GL Declarative	Yes	Yes	Oracle Forms renders applications using metadata stored in an .fmx file. Application Express renders applications using metadata stored in an Oracle database.
4GL Languages	SQL and PL/SQL	SQL and PL/SQL	Oracle Forms runs client-side PL/SQL. Application Express uses server-side PL/SQL.
User Interface	Java	HTML	Oracle Forms is accessed using a web browser and its user interface is rendered using a JVM. Application Express is also invoked from a Web browser but its user interface is HTML and JavaScript.
Page Layout	Windows / Canvases	Page / Regions	Oracle Forms uses exact positioning and Application Express uses HTML-relative positioning.
Client-side Field Control	Form triggers	Javascript and AJAX	Oracle Forms provides robust field-level validation and event processing. Application Express supports declarative page-level validation and event processing. Programmatic field-level validation and event processing requires Javascript and AJAX.
Web Service Support	Yes	Yes	Both Oracle Forms and Application Express support the calling of Web Services, for example BPEL.
Charting	BI Beans	Flash Charts	Oracle Forms uses BI Beans as its integrated charting engine. Application Express uses Flash Charts as its integrated charting engine.
Locking	Pessimistic, Optimistic, Custom	Optimistic, Custom	Oracle Forms supports a range of locking models with pessimistic as the default. Due to its asynchronous architecture, Application Express uses an optimistic locking model.
Database Connections	Synchronous	Asynchronous	Oracle Forms uses synchronous connections to allow transactions to span multiple screen interactions. Application Express does not transparently allow transactions to span page views. Application Express programmatically supports transactions spanning page views using collections.
Concurrent User Support	Database connectivity maintained by user session	Database connectivity only maintained for the processing of requests	Each connected user in Oracle Forms maintains a synchronous connection to the Oracle database. Application Express users are asynchronously connected to the Oracle database.
Architecture	3 Tier	2 Tier	With Oracle Forms, Application logic is processed in the Oracle database, a mid-tier Forms Server, or in the rich client. With Application Express, PL/SQL application logic is processed within the Oracle database. Client-side logic is implemented using JavaScript. HTTP communications are facilitated using Apache and Mod/PLSQL.

To find out more about Oracle Forms, visit Oracle Forms on OTN.