Two vital characteristics of Web 2.0
Submitted by admin on Mon, 09/22/2008 - 15:41 Posted in
Websites and web applications are being developed rapidly, incrementally and with heavy user involvement, says this ComputerWorld article on Web 2.0.
It is likely that this positive development has sprung out of various trends:
- The wake-up call away from the Dot Com bubble "build and they will come" mentality.
- The upsurge in organizations adopting Agile development practices over the Waterfall method. (Agile bringing with it Extreme Programming, heavily influenced by the best practice of including users).
- The overwhelm brought on by repeat, poor user experiences and subsequent demand for simplicity, elegance and ease of use.
The article emphasizes an important realization about leaving users out of the development process:
"Many times, traditional enterprise IT shops will identify a need and develop multiple ways of meeting it when the user would be happy with just one way, Gribbons noted. But without constant interaction with users, developers are often unaware of the yearning for simple user interfaces".
Source: IT's lessons to be learned from Web 2.0 developers, Computer World (July 21st 2008)
Frank Spillers' Comment:
It's great to see Web 2.0, a new technology paradigm and culture emerging around Internet development and growth as embracing user participation right out of the gate. Getting too excited about Web 2.0 user interface techniques can be detrimental as usability guru Jakob Nielsen warns in his Web 2.0 Can Be Dangerous (though his warning seems sensational, yet again, and would leave one to believe there are more risks than gains). HTML can be dangerous too if not coupled with user experience strategy--just look at MySpace!!
The real story for Web 2.0 is: that it can be immensely profitable (witness 800% revenue growth from Kayak.com and 400% growth from RockYou over a 2 year period--source) and that usability and user involvement are becoming signature to how websites are developed these days.
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