1. A method for generating a graphical user interface on a client computing device, the graphical user interface having a client component that communicates with a server component, comprising: connecting to a server computing device; requesting the graphical user interface from the server computing device; receiving a description of the graphical user interface, the description indicated by a markup language; generating the graphical user interface on the client computing device based on the received description, the generating performed by a cross-platform application framework; receiving an update to the graphical user interface without a subsequent request from the client computing device; and updating the graphical user interface on the client computing device based on the received update.