Web 2.0 is a label that has been given to many web sites, applications and services. I think that this arbitrary label has sprung into existence because we have reached a point where so many people are working in the same direction that it feels tangible, in reality it’s a very difficult thing to tie down to a fixed definition.
It is a realisation in the evolution of software design whereby we can design software in terms of how we want to work rather than alter our work to fit the software. This is a step towards the day when we can tell the computer, I want to do this and the computer will do it or build software on the fly to accomplish a set task.
The technologies that we use to build websites and web-applications have reached a stage of maturity whereby we spend much less time struggling with the technicality of software building and can think longer and harder about what to build. We rarely have to compromise our ideas, instead we can refine them. If we have a feature to add to an interface, it’s rare to find that it can’t be done, rather we need to decide how to implement it.
Mainstream acceptance of the Internet as a media platform and the widespread uptake of broadband are also influencing factors. We can still see plenty of examples of websites built in the way that they were back when the Internet was considered by many to be a chatroom for star-trek fans. The new wave of sites and services however have ditched the old ways and embraced the new.
There is a major drive towards accessibility, this has been driven by the development of standards, legislation and the commercial sense that accessible content tends to be more portable – we can deliver to a
greater range of platforms without additional effort.
Web 2.0 seems to have a distinctive style when it comes to the visual designs. Much of this is down to me-too designers, but initially at least, they have been led by accessibility & usability research. The benefits of larger font sizes and greater use of whitespace in pages has been documented and the uptake of these ideas is apparent in Web 2.0 sites.
Web 2.0 is an idea, that is why it’s so hard to define properly. Like any good idea, it mutates to fit whichever brain it comes to rest in.
One Comment
Nice article Dave, Web 2.0 is nothing more than a “Meme” and just like any other meme there is a set of core ingredients that all 2.0 sites seem to have such as a lean, accessible design and the incorpation of certain technologies.
The interesting thing is how it got started and why it has been perpetuated. A lot of people’s motivations seem to have been style but in doing so they have gained substance too.