We wanted a lightweight ElasticSearch data browser to include within the Appbase.io dashboard. We started out with evaluating existing browsers to see if we could repurpose them for our needs.
We were primarily looking for -
- Client-side rendering: Introducing either server-side code or database coupling would introduce performance hits and make hosting more prone to more failure scenarios; we felt strongly about client-side rendering.
- Déjà vu: While a polished UI is starting to become the norm in modern apps, we found that some data browsers have yet to match up in this regards.
We evaluated the most popular data browsers and found them lacking with either their client-side rendering capabilities or their UI / Ux sensibilities.