Hello; first-time poster, long-time watcher in the forums.

I'll explain a little of what I'm trying to do. I am aiming to develop an actual application (as opposed to specific web browsing) that will allow users to view an online photogallery, and get the latest/updated information for a number of things in their local city.

What I am wanting to know, is where I would begin to understand and develop this type of program? I've read around how Java may not be fully supported everywhere, but that is what I was once leaning towards and using the java program to communicate online with the server live to update certain information and to also allow the user to scroll through the photogallery.

ANY help/information is definitely help!