Too much technology? (Read 2525 times)

If you spend any amount of time on the web, you'll inevitably hear about Web 2.0. I think I've mentioned it in a previous post. It's not as grand as the version number implied. There is no new Internet created just for it. It doesn't even need new web browsers since all the modern browsers already support it. In a nut shell, Web 2.0 is a way to retrieve additional information for the page without reloading the page first. For example, when you create a new pair of shoes, the models are retrieved from the server silently every time you pick a new brand. Many sites create Web 2.0 pages for the sake of using the technology. I have to confess that I am not immune to it. The technology is quite cool, but the whole point of technology is to make our lives easier. If it forces us to change how we go about doing things, then it defeats the original intent. The user directory page used to be a Web 2.0 page, but I reverted back to a more traditional scheme when I released groups earlier this week. I didn’t feel that it was intuitive to the user when you’re browsing, and here’s why. Let’s say you are done with reading the forums, and you wanted to check out your friend’s log. So you click on the “Browse User Logs” link, and that brings you to the user directory. You click on the letter “A” to list all users beginning with “A”, but realized that your friend didn’t make her log public. You then click on the letter “T” to check out another friend. If you click the back button on your browser now, you would expect that you’ll be brought back to the “A” section. Instead, you went back to the forums. Huh? What’s going on? The problem with Web 2.0 pages is that even though the page contents changed (i.e. it went from listing the “A” section to “T”), you never left the page as far as your browser is concerned. In other words, Web 2.0 pages don’t have browser page history support. Since the user directory is merely a set of pages, I removed all that fancy Web 2.0 stuff from it. Although a new page loads every time you click on a link, it works much better for what it supposed to do. Hopefully, I have learned the lesson of using technology to create useful pages, instead of creating pages to use technology.

Eric, I really appreciate your philosophy regarding technology (and website design). It's clear to those who use these pages frequently that you are far from adverse to exploring new technology (I think this was one of the first running sites to make use of Google Maps, for instance). But you never let that technology compromise the functionality and aesthetic of your work. The final product speaks for itself. Well done and thanks! p.s. Thanks also for explaining this new technology (and your logic behind using/not using it). Very educational!

Ditto!

Amen! K.I.S.E. (replace the standard final S with an E for Eric )