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Web 2.0 on a broken foundation.

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So Web 2.0 is in full effect isn’t it? We all know what it is. We have all seen it. Even the lightest internet users have seen the trademark design traits, whether they know it or not. But are we moving full steam ahead with 2.0 before we fix 1.0? Are we the architects of a Web built on a failing foundation?

To some extent, I think so. We are so concerned with the cool new JS effects and the fresh design that we forget that 1.0 had some serious problems that we are not correcting. Basic usability issues are still there. We still forget the little things.

Forms

Forms bug me a lot. Not just the “too many things” argument. A lot of sites are cutting the fat when it comes to the length and complexity of forms. But what about validation? Too many sites still validate AFTER the information has been submitted.

I have always advocated server side sanitization of input when it comes to forms. But please god don’t tell me “password mismatch” and then after I fix it, don’t spit another problem out at me. And after I fix the next one, god another one?

We can fix a lot if not all of the input problems with on the fly validation. If my passwords don’t match, let me know with some JS. Take the Invision Power Board Register Form for example. I know exactly what I did wrong right when I did it.

Is that overkill for something simpler? Like perhaps a contact form? Yeah sure, but take a look at what Marco did with his contact form (click the contact tab ;)). Its attractive and it tells me whats wrong before it lets me submit. Nice eh?

Images

Oh god images. I know that an aspect of Web 2.0 is the prettyness (hah) but we really should cut back on the images. There is something to be said for a pleasing to the eye design but we still use far too many images when we design. We use images for things that can easily be done imageless in css. Lazy? Maybe a bit. But we have to remember that this age of broadband is no excuse for huge page size.

This is something I expect the most debate on. I know that designers love to have the end product be fresh and appealing. And sometimes yeah, more images are needed. But we do need to be conscious of load times for our less fortunate 56k friends. It’s not like resolutions where we can say “800×600? Pfah. No reason to still be using 800×600.”, some people have to use dialup.

I know the subtitle says images but this applies to a lot of things. Javascript? Please don’t include prototype.js in its entirety to do one little thing. Thats not needed. Cut the fat.

Navigation

Even now we forget that web browsing isn’t that native to some people. We need to start making the way we structure sites more intuitive. We need to remember that getting from page to page should be the simplest thing to do. Something that people shouldn’t even have to think about.

I cry every time I reach a site where the contact link is buried 3 pages deep on some obscure page in a footer with the smallest font possible. And I cry just as much when people neglect to include anything more than the basics when they link.

Maybe its a part of your design, maybe you are trying to keep things very.. “uncluttered”. But we should link to as many things as possible right off the bat. Take a blog for example. What do you get? Like mine, normally, you get Home, Archives, About, Contact, and maybe a personal page. But that shouldn’t be it. We should link to our categories. Perhaps someone stumbled across your site looking for one specific thing. Have 50 categories? Me too. Just do what I did and list your main categories. The all encompassing categories.

More?

Yeah there is more. There are more problems that we haven’t addressed or are on an everlasting “back burner” stage. Some only apply to a few people, and some to us all. But we really should be making a conscious effort when we design and code to fix the little things.

This was a short post but I hope that in some small way I can get a few designers to go “hey, that would be helpful”. Or something to that effect.

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