A method and system for use in running a display-based computer application comprising a plurality of application segments, where computing is distributed between a server and a client computer. The method comprises the steps of providing a generic client engine (20) to the client computer, the client engine comprising an application manager (24), one or more display managers (22), and one or more load managers (26), providing a collection of individual application subset definition files (18), each relating to one of said application segments, wherein, on receipt of successive application subset definition files from the server, the client recursively transforms to provide the respective application segments. The invention has broad utility in a wide variety of display-based computer applications, particularly in wireless applications.