Archive for October, 2005
Web 2.0 – this time it’s personal
There is a growing increase in the amount of coverage about Web 2.0. But, what is it? What is all this about and is it just hype or a natural evolution. I have begun to feel whatever you look at relating to the web you can’t avoid the blitz buzz about Web 2.0. From designers naming themselves Web 2.0 interactive designers (not really sure if that is not just jargon speak) through to the regular articles, reviews, odds and sods about what it means for designers, what it is and what your dog needs to know about Web 2.0. Even the name sounds like a jargon feast – Web 2.0 – how very software release title is that.
Tech sci-fi crystal balls
Wired runs an article today about the top tech trends that futurists pick. So, what is in the futurist’s crystal ball? It seems to boil down to some very forceable things – possibly a little too obvious too. This column focuses on the positive elements with the negative coming in a later column. The outlined predictions fall into the following 4 categories :
Geek hypercondria
CNN today ran a story which is about the web on various sites – it’s not about a war, or famine or even a little dog stuck down the well. No, the hot topic is "blackberry thumb". The latest in the long series of computer related ills and ailments is curtosy of my little mate blackberry. My favourite bit of this is the bit where the poor man affilicted is described as :
Pan au chocolat design
It’s funny what influences a designer. Not funny as in ha ha though – with me I have come to the conclusion it is funny as in “can we have a straight jacket for Mrs Lister please”. Take today – and considering the amount of php I’ve bashed through please take it . . . anyway. This morning I gained my influence for design not through some wonderful site, not through the little book of icon design, not even through the pages of some css showcase. No, this morning it was a pan au chocolat.
Web designer – the modern hermit
Where people work as web designers is as varied as the profession type. For many it is a fairly lonely career either due to being a freelancer or working as a solitary sheep in a company. My own situation is as a single web designer amongst a few magazine designers, smattering of advert designer and a mass of sales. When you work freelance this isolation can be increased. No matter who you are at sometime just having another who understands what a html tag is would be an advantage. I often find myself dreaming of a like minded soul who is willing to discuss the pros and cons of tabular versus non tabular designs over a coffee. There are those lucky people who actually get to work somewhere that is a hot bed of creative frenzy. For me though this isn’t the case. I work in a company where I am the only web designer and as such this can be rather solitary.
One of the flock
As the website says “the flock has landed!” So what is flock and what is all the flock about (couldn’t resist). Flock is on the surface a browser. I suddenly see people rather uninterested. This though doesn’t appear to be the end of it. For starters there is direct linking without the need for extensions to most of the usual blogs, de.li.cious and flickr. It’s all done in a rather grand fashion from what the developer release of Flock shows.
