2008 Web Predictions
No bold predictions from my side - I leave that to others.
1. Get people to web sites vs. get web sites to the people
I'm talking about a fundamental change here. You know the story - some cool start-up releases a great new web site/application - users create new accounts and start using it - start participating and sharing stuff with friends. The success of most sites like this depends on how many users it can attract. From the development point of view - all these sites share common fundamentals (identity profile, friends list, activity stream...) that are coded over-and-over again. As developer you want to focus on your app - and not waste time on the basis.
Another way of saying it: What is the fastest way to get a social context for your site/app?
A few solutions were presented during 2007 - Facebook apps and OpenSocial to name two. They - and others still to come - will shift how developers will create web sites/applications. Plug your app directly into a social environment - forget cool domain names, footer design and e-mail verification! We will see this metaphor going open and beyond the web - why should your favorite desktop app not be social?
2. Stucked with Web Forms 1.0
It's still going to be a pain in the neck to create great accessible websites/applications. No matter how great the JS frameworks are going get - the fundamental form controls shipped with next years major browsers suck (the common denominator of them!). More developers are going to switch to the Flash/Flex platform.
3. Think with semantics
No big surprise here - thanks to tools slowly adapting conventions from Microformats and RDFa we will see an accelerate use. I'm especially eager to see what evolves from the Microformats API in Firefox 3. Ok - wishful thinking here - wikipedia makes publishing semantics easy enough that people are actually using it.
Semantics - what? Watch this.
4. Inroad of location-based services
A lot has happend on the technology side in 2007 (Assisted GPS in hands of people, cell-based hacks like Google MyLocation, powerful mobile phones, affordable nation-wide data services). This whole LBS thingy could be much further advanced today - full blame to the network operators (and to some degree device producers) that don't know the words "open", "API" and "there is a world beyond SMS". That is not going to change - but we will see operator independent solutions for developers to create mobile web apps with location awareness.
5. Google rocks the house
The dominance will cause more stories like this
Link-love to friends & family also reflecting on the year-change:
1. Get people to web sites vs. get web sites to the people
I'm talking about a fundamental change here. You know the story - some cool start-up releases a great new web site/application - users create new accounts and start using it - start participating and sharing stuff with friends. The success of most sites like this depends on how many users it can attract. From the development point of view - all these sites share common fundamentals (identity profile, friends list, activity stream...) that are coded over-and-over again. As developer you want to focus on your app - and not waste time on the basis.
Another way of saying it: What is the fastest way to get a social context for your site/app?
A few solutions were presented during 2007 - Facebook apps and OpenSocial to name two. They - and others still to come - will shift how developers will create web sites/applications. Plug your app directly into a social environment - forget cool domain names, footer design and e-mail verification! We will see this metaphor going open and beyond the web - why should your favorite desktop app not be social?
2. Stucked with Web Forms 1.0
It's still going to be a pain in the neck to create great accessible websites/applications. No matter how great the JS frameworks are going get - the fundamental form controls shipped with next years major browsers suck (the common denominator of them!). More developers are going to switch to the Flash/Flex platform.
3. Think with semantics
No big surprise here - thanks to tools slowly adapting conventions from Microformats and RDFa we will see an accelerate use. I'm especially eager to see what evolves from the Microformats API in Firefox 3. Ok - wishful thinking here - wikipedia makes publishing semantics easy enough that people are actually using it.
Semantics - what? Watch this.
4. Inroad of location-based services
A lot has happend on the technology side in 2007 (Assisted GPS in hands of people, cell-based hacks like Google MyLocation, powerful mobile phones, affordable nation-wide data services). This whole LBS thingy could be much further advanced today - full blame to the network operators (and to some degree device producers) that don't know the words "open", "API" and "there is a world beyond SMS". That is not going to change - but we will see operator independent solutions for developers to create mobile web apps with location awareness.
5. Google rocks the house
The dominance will cause more stories like this
- Hard-time selling flowers in Denver (local search ranking vs ads)
- Google Reader ruins Christmas (automatic sharing of content with "friends" vs. privacy)
Link-love to friends & family also reflecting on the year-change:
