Web2.0 Gets Pragmatic

Posted by Jacob Harris Wed, 21 Sep 2005 04:39:00 GMT

If you haven’t seen it already, Anil Dash’s blog article titled Web Development Trends for 2006 is a worthwhile read for those curious about the future of web technology in the next year.

For me, the overall theme of this list is “Web2.0 Grows Up”. For starters, I would agree that what he terms dampening and buffering are really the main ways in which AJAX use will mature from just a “gee-whiz” factor to a basic usability requirement. I think this will be helped along by sites standardizing basic interface designs and Ajax libraries like script.aculo.us easing the way for new users. This might also be what pushes more people to do XHTML/CSS, not because of Greasemonkey, but because it’s the only way to get your AJAX stuff to work reliably.

I think the ATOM API might be important as well, but I think the bigger trend for 2006 will be the widespread adoption of syndication support (be it RSS2.0 or Atom) in many more places. RSS shines right not as a lightweight information sharing mechanism that puts REST to shame, not to mention the huge mess that is SOAP. It’s small wonder that even Microsoft has adopted RSS support within Windows Vista. While I suppose the Atom API will create a new buzz, I think the bigger excitement will be web developers placing RSS in places there are none and finding new creative ways to use RSS that haven’t been dreamed of yet.

One area that Anil Dash highlights that I would like to see come to fruition though is geeks marketing themselves. On this, he is completely correct on the importance of this, but I haven’t seen much evidence of this in the past. However, I think it might change soon. For starters, more developers and geeks are actively getting their presence out there, mainly by showing that blogging is not just for livejournal teens talking about their daily emotions. The profusion of several active Wikis is also a promising sign. Finally, I have to hope that Chad Fowler’s forthcoming book My Job Went to India (which I had the honor of test reading) will be enough to convince the remaining stragglers of the importance of promoting themselves for their careers.

I believe it’s as essential as learning to code these days. Which is why I’ve started blogging in the first place. But I will write more on that later…