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27th
Is Microsoft purposely holding back the web?
Google keeps saying that they want to “move the web forward” is it possible that Microsoft is actually trying to “hold the web back”? The reason I bring this up is one word: motivation.
Why would Microsoft want to move the web forward? Microsoft hasn’t really figured out how make money on the web yet. In fact, many people would say that they have repeatedly failed at all things web-related. So one could argue, that it would be in Microsoft’s best interest if people kept using desktop applications and just kept doing what they’re doing. That is, buying a new computer (and the new Windows license that comes with it) every time their Windows installation gets bloated with spy-ware and various other crap-ware. That has worked for Microsoft for years, and they’re struggling to find their role in the new “open web” model where so much is given away for free.
So what power do they really have? Well, because of the success of Windows they still have the largest share of the browser market. Web developers can build amazing web applications with modern browser technology. However, in order to have wide appeal, they are often forced to build apps that conform to the lowest common browser denominator (which is almost always IE).
Web developers have been pushing the limits of web-technologies for years; trying to re-create the “feel” and functionality of desktop applications within a browser. There have been some incredible advances in these areas, examples that come to mind are Mozilla’s Bespin, Google Docs, Zoho’s office tools, Adobe’s Photoshop Express, and picnik. Also, if you want to be blown away by what can be done in a browser head over to ChromeExperiements.com
However, much of the added “zing” needed to make web applications really seem comparable to desktop apps requires use of some of the more progressive web technologies that will be available in the yet-to-be-completely-defined standards of HTML 5. But, all other major browsers such as FireFox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera are already implementing some of the more powerful features of HTML 5 such as the “canvas” tag that enable some of the most impressive web applications, like the aforementioned Bespin (a web based IDE for coders).
Given the fact that Microsoft has had very limited success on the web, is it really such a stretch to imagine that they would use their position in the browser market to slow down that transition?
Are they doing it on purpose? Who knows. Are they slowing down the evolution of the web? No doubt.
What do you think?
15th
Google Search Options
There’s been a lot of talk recently about how twitter’s search will impact the search industry, mainly because of the “real-time”, “as-it’s-happening” aspect of it that hasn’t been available in Google.
Well, a couple days ago, Google released some search improvements of their own. Say hello to “search options”:
They introduce several new filtering options, most notably (IMO), the ability to filter by “recency”. I gave it a quick try by Googling my name and selecting “Past 24 hours”:
It wasn’t too bad. It included one (of several) Twitter posts from last night, a comment on a Friend Feed post, and my friend Josh Highland’s blog post from yesterday, who has me in his blog roll.
I’m guessing with time, the accuracy and completeness of these more recent results will improve. So far, though, it wasn’t too bad. Finally, Google added a few other features that are probably more fun than useful like the “Wonder Wheel” option that displays a visuallization of related searches and lets you quickly switch from one to the other:
So far, I’m a fan and I plan on leaving this option turned on. Have you tried search options? What are your reactions?
12th
If you go tumblr and view source on the page, you’ll see yet another example of their attention to detail.
So much style!
This is form design guru Luke Wroblewski’s summary of a talk given by Bill DeRouchey from the 2009 Wep App Summit in Newport Beach, CA.
Simple, take-home tips for giving your apps a bit of much-needed personality. Too many apps are boring and “stuffy” make it personal, make it fun and people will like it.
27th
This is one my favorite quotes. I used to have it framed on my desk.
Look closely at the icons for “text”, “photo”, etc from this screenshot of the tumblr.com iPhone app. The ripped pieces of paper are all unique and the pattern of the torn edge matches the icons above and below!!!
That’s impressive attention to detail that all designers can learn from. I’ve been really impressed with tumblr since I started using it last week. It’s easy, it’s customizable, and they obviously take pride in their work.
