| It’s taken a decade of baby steps, but the | | | | While you can take advantage of other people's |
| Web is finally starting to grow up. We've banished | | | | generosity to add some sparkle to your own site, |
| the bleak days of brochureware back when | | | | that should only be a starting point. After all, the |
| companies thought that scanning their annual | | | | stickiest thing of all is the promise of regularly |
| reports page by page into half megabyte GIFs | | | | updated original content. If visitors can't go |
| was the way to build an online presence. We've | | | | anywhere else to get their daily fix of your wit, |
| woken up from the nightmare of building sites | | | | wisdom and creative sparkle, you can guarantee |
| from nested tables that wouldn't make the IKEA | | | | they'll come back for more! The ability to update |
| reject bin, thanks to browsers that (mostly) | | | | sites on a regular basis, without elite design or |
| handle style sheets without leaving coders | | | | programming skills, has transformed the Web in |
| compromised. And, thankfully, most people have | | | | recent years. Allowing visitors to comment and |
| got over their infatuation with Flash for its own | | | | contribute takes things a step further, creating a |
| sake, realising that two minutes of whirling | | | | truly inclusive online environment. We're talking |
| geometrics is the closest thing to turning your | | | | weblogs of course. |
| entire front page into a Back button. | | | | Many coders complain that the profusion of blogs |
| Call it a Renaissance if you like but the only way | | | | has lowered the standards of Web design, |
| is up, no matter what you want to bring to the | | | | creating a divide between those who care about |
| Web. Design mavens can now stretch CSS, | | | | the look of their sites, and those simply interested |
| JavaScript and even Flash to their limits, while | | | | in knocking out a dozen posts a day and it's true |
| maintaining clean, lightweight, elegant sites that | | | | that most blogs follow familiar multi-column |
| embrace different platforms and even shrink to | | | | layouts built on standard templates. |
| suit the mobile Web. At the same time, those | | | | What's undeniable is that blogs are tuned to the |
| more interested in content don't have to sacrifice | | | | way most people browse the Web these days: |
| good looks for textual brilliance, and can draw | | | | by putting the latest content up front and being |
| upon publishing tools that make it easy for others | | | | simple to navigate, they're especially easy to |
| to comment, contribute and collaborate online. | | | | track and bookmark. They also work especially |
| Today's bleeding edge sites are driven by the | | | | well with Google by being rich in text based |
| wishes and wills of both their creators and their | | | | content one reason why Google bought Blogger. |
| visitors: they're flexible, accessible and open to | | | | And there are enough examples of beautifully |
| customisation. Most of all, they're user driven: | | | | designed blogs, such as Loobylu to prove that you |
| while it's always been true that as much ego goes | | | | don't have to sacrifice graphical and coding skills to |
| into building sites as HTML, we're starting to see | | | | create a site with rich, original content that people |
| grassroots projects that offer distinctive personal | | | | want to visit again and again. If it's stickiness |
| visions, while embracing what their audiences | | | | you're after, the world of blogging is like a giant |
| expect from the Web and what they bring to the | | | | vat of honey. |
| Web. The portal builders' vision of the 'Daily Me' is | | | | The biggest advantage of building sites around the |
| evolving into the Webloggers' 'Daily Us' and there's | | | | blogging model is that they come with a vibrant |
| plenty to like about it. | | | | Community waiting in the wings. This is most |
| From interactive to inclusive | | | | obvious with sites that make it easy for users to |
| One of the earliest goals of site builders, back in | | | | add pictures, mood icons and the all important |
| what you might call the Web's Stone Age, was to | | | | commenting facility to their entries, and allow |
| put a bit of life into static, read only sites. The | | | | users to join 'communities' based upon common |
| arcane world of CGI was (and still is) beyond the | | | | interests. Admittedly, many sites look a bit like |
| reach of most HTML jockeys, meaning that any | | | | your eccentric uncle's DIY projects, but there's |
| browser based techniques to add interactivity | | | | plenty of room to tart up your design, and the |
| tended to be pretty lame. Reading back a visitor's | | | | site's publishing tools make it incredibly easy to |
| IP address or building a scripted form to pop up | | | | become part of a community, or for other users |
| 'Hello Dave!' when you enter your name isn't really | | | | to keep track of your individual posts and add |
| the height of technology. | | | | their own comments. |
| Even until recently, there's been a digital divide | | | | The most vibrant community orientated sites |
| between the bargain basement interactivity | | | | right now tend to combine original content, |
| available to most site builders, and the | | | | collaborative authorship, user comments and |
| customisation of higher end sites backed by | | | | plenty of external links, all wrapped up in clean, up |
| dynamic servers and databases. Now, though, | | | | front designs. While many community driven sites |
| with the advent of smart site publishing tools, that | | | | are backed by Weblogging tools, the old style |
| sort of dead end ‘interactivity' can be tossed | | | | bulletin board is still worth a look. |
| in the bit-bucket. Ironically, though, much of the | | | | Building for broadband |
| personalisation offered by big portal sites has also | | | | Getting more adventurous, building for users with |
| proved to be a false dawn. While being able to | | | | higher bandwidth allows you to offer background |
| pick and choose news stories or multimedia | | | | music and Flashheavy interfaces that capture the |
| streams seemed a big thing in the Nineties, in | | | | distinctive identity and purpose of your site. Right |
| hindsight it seems shackled by 'old media' | | | | now, the best examples of this are on sites |
| expectations too much like buying a newspaper | | | | where 'old media' producers radio, TV and the |
| for the sports section or wielding the TV remote | | | | music industry have adapted their work for the |
| control. What's emerged in the last few years, | | | | Web. |
| then, is a redefinition of what interactivity should | | | | The blue-sky future |
| mean for the Web, which draws upon the various | | | | So, where does the future lie for the Web, as |
| forms of online interaction that already thrive, i.e. | | | | broadband becomes the norm and community |
| email, newsgroups, chat rooms and instant | | | | driven sites become increasingly prominent? Is it |
| messaging. So it's time to put aside notions of | | | | to be found in the text rich world of blog based |
| dumb push button Interactivity' that cast the Web | | | | sites, or in sites that bring ever more layers of |
| as some giant videogame, and instead embrace a | | | | rich media to the Web? Well, it's safe to say that |
| new era of ‘inclusivity', in which sites are built | | | | both will have their place. While Google remains |
| to enable complex interactions but on a very | | | | the primary tool for most users in digging out the |
| human scale. | | | | information that matters to them, the pre |
| Navigating into the future | | | | eminence it gives to blogs and similar content |
| Just over a century ago, designers created | | | | heavy sites will keep them popular. At least it will |
| innovative 'navigation' schemes that proved | | | | until Flash designers have the technology at hand |
| potentially deadly for users; that's because they | | | | to build sites that are as easily incorporated into |
| were designing the controls for the first | | | | Google's rankings as those working with simple |
| generation of cars. it took years of competition, | | | | HTML, or until Google or another search engine |
| countless accidents and plenty of bruised egos | | | | becomes sophisticated enough to classify and |
| before a standardised layout emerged. Trying to | | | | index the growing amount of Web content that's |
| visit Web sites with funky navigation isn't as | | | | in audio and video format. That day may not be |
| dangerous as driving with the pedals back to | | | | too far away. As the tools to create rich media |
| front, but the same principle applies: people come | | | | content cease to be the privileged domain of top |
| to expect stability from technologies as they | | | | end professionals, thanks to the growing |
| mature, even if the right way isn't always the | | | | consumer market for sound and video editing |
| best way. So while there's still tremendous | | | | tools, there's likely to be sufficient demand (and |
| freedom to come up with radical approaches to | | | | smart enough programmers) to start remapping |
| Web based navigation, forward thinking site | | | | the Web as something more than a world of text |
| builders tend to focus more on refining the well | | | | heavy pages. Instead, look for the capacity and |
| worn models of operating Systems and popular | | | | influence of CSS to increase, as it provides both |
| sites sidebar menus, horizontal tabs and clickable | | | | Google friendly simplicity and the potential for |
| 'breadcrumb' trails so they work better, cleaner | | | | graphically rich user interfaces. |
| and more efficiently. | | | | Looking back at the predictions made at the end |
| If you've kept away from the more arcane | | | | of the Nineties, it's fair to say that the Web has |
| aspects of CSS, you'll be amazed at the power | | | | developed less radically in the past five years than |
| and flexibility now available to create stylish | | | | most designers expected. Many hyped |
| navigation elements, complete with tabs, rollovers | | | | technologies, such as XM1 and scalable vector |
| and submenus, without recourse to image files, | | | | graphics, have yet to catch on in a big way. This |
| complex scripting, Java or Flash. That's not to say | | | | is due in part to the stuttering development of |
| that Flash should be entirely off limits just be | | | | browser technology to adopt new standards, and |
| careful that you don't sacrifice basic usability, such | | | | in part because consolidation replaced innovation in |
| as the ability to bookmark deep links of use the | | | | the years following the dotcom crash. Now, |
| browser's back and forward buttons to cycle | | | | however, with new attitudes developing towards |
| between pages. And remember that users with | | | | site design and the technologies in place to |
| disabilities or behind proxies may be denied access. | | | | implement them, we're likely to see a new |
| In short, it's best to avoid using Flash for primary | | | | creative spirit embrace the Web in which both the |
| navigation, and save it for special occasions. | | | | inclusive spirit of blogging and the convergence of |
| While the look and feel of Web navigation may be | | | | rich media have a part to play, together with |
| stabilising, it's certainly not stagnating. That's | | | | other interactive tools such as instant messaging. |
| thanks to the growth of user centred | | | | Is this likely to mean that site builders in five |
| architecture, which tries to avoid the old habit of | | | | years' time will need to be smarter and more |
| dividing sites into layer upon layer of sub | | | | creative than today? Perhaps. But the tools at |
| directories. Whether mimicking a corporate | | | | their disposal and the space they'll have to work |
| hierarchy or the folders on a typical coder's hard | | | | in will also have been transformed to make it |
| drive, the multi layered approach too often leaves | | | | easier to get their creative visions online. It’s |
| visitors not knowing where to look for | | | | already possible to update and contribute to sites |
| information, of frustrated at having to dig so | | | | through your mobile phone. We are now looking |
| deep. Instead, user centred site building tries to | | | | at uploading and accessing high resolution |
| anticipate the needs and questions of visitors, | | | | streaming video, or dictating and receiving site |
| whether new to the site or familiar with its | | | | updates while on the move. Site interfaces will |
| workings. | | | | evolve to reflect that the Web is bursting out |
| Plug-in participation | | | | from being 'something that's on our computers', |
| There are plenty of dynamic components freely | | | | and becoming part of our everyday lives. |
| available for personal and small scale sites, which | | | | Designing for that sort of online experience is |
| can add some all-important stickiness that | | | | going to be light years away from knocking |
| mysterious quality that encourages visitors to | | | | together a menu bar for your personal Web site. |
| return for future visits. A simple way to get | | | | Just don't be worried about being left behind. |
| started is to add an opinion poll to your site. | | | | It’s the ambition, skill and imagination of site |
| Another popular way to attract visitors is to | | | | builders that has got us to where we are today, |
| include Flash or Shockwave games, puzzles and | | | | and it's those qualities that will transform the Web |
| quizzes on your pages. | | | | in the years to come. |
| Care in the community | | | | |