Every framework has a story. Oorian's began with frustration—a Java developer who found web development absolutely torturous and decided to do something about it.
A Java Developer Enters the Web World
iGradePlus was my first serious web application. I had played with creating web pages and sites before, but only on a small scale using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. As someone with a strong object-oriented background and years of Java experience, I quickly learned to despise JavaScript. The entire process of building web applications felt wrong to me.
My first attempt at iGradePlus used plain JSP. It didn't take long to realize that wasn't going to cut it. So I started looking for alternatives. Java Server Faces turned out to be little more than an extension of JSP. Google Web Toolkit didn't appeal to me either. This was quite some time ago, and I honestly don't recall ever coming across Vaadin or ZK Framework at the time—they simply weren't on my radar.
If You Want Something Done Right...
At that point, iGradePlus was just a part-time project. So I made what might seem like an audacious decision: I would build my own Java web framework, designed exactly the way I wanted to develop web pages.
That's where the name came from—Object-Oriented, Rich, Internet Applications. OORIAN.
My original vision had two phases. First, build a core framework that let you create web pages using Java to generate the HTML and CSS, with AJAX support for interactivity. Second, once that was solid, build a rich UI control layer on top of it.
The first phase came together quickly, and I started using it to build iGradePlus. From that point on, the two projects evolved in parallel—every feature iGradePlus needed drove improvements in Oorian.
The Best-Laid Plans
Two things derailed my original plan for that second phase.
First, iGradePlus became popular enough that it basically consumed all of my time. What started as a part-time project became a full-time endeavor.
Second, I learned very quickly that trying to build sophisticated UI controls for web applications was cumbersome, time-consuming, and extremely challenging. Data grids, rich text editors, charting libraries—these are massive undertakings that specialized companies spend years perfecting.
With iGradePlus demanding all of my time, I simply couldn't build the rich UI layer I had envisioned. So I turned to a different approach: wrapping existing JavaScript libraries and integrating them into Oorian. It was a decision born from pure practicality.
Practicality Became a Strength
What started as a pragmatic compromise turned out to be one of Oorian's greatest strengths. Instead of building mediocre versions of every UI component, Oorian wraps industry-leading JavaScript libraries—AG Grid for data tables, Highcharts for visualization, FullCalendar for scheduling. Each library is maintained by specialists who focus exclusively on making them excellent.
Why should Java developers settle for inferior components just because they want to write Java? With Oorian, they don't have to.
A Decade of Evolution
As iGradePlus has grown over the years, Oorian has grown with it—going through many iterations, adding features like flexible communication (AJAX, SSE, or WebSocket per page), JDK-style event handling, and a consistent wrapper convention that makes every library feel familiar.
Today, Oorian powers a commercial SaaS application with:
- 500,000+ lines of code
- Hundreds of pages
- 10+ years of production use
- Thousands of daily users
Every feature has been refined through real-world usage. Every edge case has been encountered and handled.
Why Now?
For years, I've wanted to make Oorian available to other Java developers. I figured there must be others out there who think the way I do—experienced Java developers who find web development unnecessarily painful and wish they could just write Java.
But I never had the time. iGradePlus always came first.
This year, I finally bit the bullet. I made a plan and have been working to release the first public version of Oorian. After over a decade of building it, refining it, and relying on it every day, I'm convinced it can help other developers the same way it's helped me.
Oorian is coming soon. I can't wait to see what you build with it.