How do I decide between a using a Swing GUI or a light-weight web client for the user front end of my Java application?
It depends on the application and this is essentially a usability driven question (though there are considerations like data storage and platform requirements). Think of the pros and cons.
Pros of a lightweight Web UI:
- Ease of distribution
- Platform independent
- Ease of maintenance
Cons of a lightweight Web UI:
- Less environmental control
- Markup standards vary between browsers
- Requires a web server and everything that goes with it
Pros of an executable UI
- More environmental control (i.e.: full screen applications, etc)
- Not necessarily subject to latency and outages
Cons of an executable UI
- Pushing updates may be more difficult
- Requires installation
- Potential platform requirements (frameworks, packages, etc)
- Potentially requires knowledge of advanced networking topics (web services, etc)
One small factor you may want to consider is that the user will have go through some type of installation (albeit minimal) if you distribute a swing application.
Also a web application will allow you to accurately track the usage of your application (via google analytics or something similar). Not sure if that's a concern but it may be useful to you in the future.
If it is a client-server application I would normally go for a web frontend for the application.
You will save yourself of countless problems with things like installed JRE versions, distributing upgrades, application permissions, disappeared shortcuts...