Webcomponents on Delivery Server- Is it "the" way to build functionality in OpenText Delivery Server?

Webcomponents on Delivery Server -Is it "the way" to build functionality in OpenText Delivery Server?

This is common question that arises when developing on OpenText Delivery Server and everyone gives their own opinion about it based on the complexity in building webcomponents, maintaining them and troubleshooting issues with it.

In my view, this is similar to the classic problem about modularity of functionality. Whether we should write all the code in one big class or make it modular functionality and making it reusable in other project developments. Over several years of developmental experiences, developer community has come to consensus long back that modular is better. Development on Live Server is no different and should be done in same way we develop any .NET or java code.Hence before building anything on Delivery Server, one should keep in mind the following and then decide whether to build it using webcomponent or not.

1. Whether the functionality being provided is something which can be componentized
2. Whether the functionality is a nice to have functioanlity for any other project or customer (be it on the same delivery server or different delivery server)

If the answer is Yes to the above two questions, then definitely WebComponents is the way to build on Delivery Server. It is surprising that RedDot/OpenText doesnt teach in their trainings how to build web components and use them, but understanding the pattern and getting a grip on it is easy and will help one build functionality in better modular way, providing easy reuse across projects and customer base.