Stuart Charlton wrote: > > > Comments inline. > > Sent from my iPad > > On 2010-04-07, at 11:13 AM, Gregg Wonderly <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > >> >> >> Stuart Charlton wrote: >> > I think there is plenty of room for improvement, but the Web is a much >> > more "assembled" set of services than it was not even 2 years ago. >> > Think about how many sites have a "share this!" section on them that a >> > couple years back was "send an email" but now is Facebook, Twitter, >> > Myspace, Reddit, Digg, Livejournal, Wave, etc.... Or how many sites I >> > can use my Facebook account to log in to. Or how TripIt consolidates >> > all my travel points programs for me via mashup.. >> >> Yes, but think about how "general" it would be if the "content from >> the server" >> didn't have to be "programmed" to contain these "hyper-link" just so >> that I >> could click on them to get that "Feature". >> >> The iPad/iPhone model shows that "small simple" apps for "doing one >> thing" are >> much easier to get right, and get people interested in, then the "all >> shiny do >> everything app" of old. >> > I do not believe this is a valid conclusion. The vast majority of > applications one uses on the iPad are web apps via Safari, only a > handful are native experiences, and these are only beneficial if they > are attempting to do something innovative with multitouch.
I'm interested in knowing how much time you spend browsing, on the web, at EDGE or 3G speeds? I spend a lot of time "on the go" doing exactly that. The largest amount of time that I waste is waiting for all the page components to load when I switch pages. I can consume the content quickly and easily with the multi-touch interface. I'm also interested in knowing how much experience you have using CMS for web site design. Templated sites are easy to put together from a simple structure perspective. More complex sites with all kinds of JavaScript controlling random advertising content and all kinds of other optional DIV areas can be very challenging to get right without adequate tools. My point is that dedicated apps with lightweight remote content are going to be much more performant than browser apps. As an example of this, why in the world would there be an ABC app, instead of just a nice link to the web site, if it wasn't interesting to make it easier and faster to get people to the content they wanted to consume? >> The browsers try to be the "all shiny do everything app" by supporting >> HTML >> standards. They then limit what can happen because the "server" is >> completely >> in charge of the user experience. >> > For good reason. Which would be? >> Do you feel more productive when you have five windows open and can click >> between them and copy and paste and use each application for a "task", >> or do you >> feel more productive clicking through 5 links and 4 "back" buttons >> trying to >> find the user interface component that you saw a few clicks ago that >> might be >> the one you need to use (let alone the "do you want to submit this >> form again" >> prompts that you have to keep clicking on)? >> > The latter, though I often have many browser windows open. So you can't do what you want with one browser window open (no tabs), right? That is my point. The multi-faceted work modes of most people demand simple to use, focused user interfaces. For some types of applications, a web browser kind of app might be great. I'm of the opinion that it's not the complete answer. The model of remote resource access and the way that the user can access it through URIs is a start. But, the technology has so many things that are just not concrete solutions, but instead provide capabilities that are very often the source of user experience problems. >> It's interesting how bad the web experience is getting as people are >> dead set on >> making one application/paradigm do everything... >> > Whats bad about it? I seriously have no idea what you are talking > about. The web experience is, if anything, improving rapidly. You must not frequent the places that I do and have the same experience. Some simple things. First, there is no "User experience standard" for the web, as there is for operating systems, such as Windows, Macos-x, iPhone, iPad, etc. What this means is that anything that you can code, can be published and used. Great for freedom of design and all of that. But, in the end, it means that you can find a very diverse set of UIs that are poorly designed and operate poorly. Because the server is in control of everything that happens, the user doesn't have as many choices of when and how to proceed. With a local application, I can leave the context stored in my computer and come back a week, year or decade later to continue where I left off. Web services expire my context because they would otherwise become overwhelmed with all the local context they would be holding onto. Cookies were invented to try and store more information remotely. But, then we have cookie expiration timers, and the knowledge of the existence of the cookie that has to live at the server, so not really removing resources from the server. So, web services are still a home for a lot of information that the user has to figure out how to get to and use to accomplish what they want. The service flow itself has to be designed to support a work flow before the user can exercise that work flow. There are so many web sites which have greatly broken and horribly designed user interfaces, yet are the front to resources that people would really like to use. If the server and the resources are linked through the web service, then is the server a solution or a problem if the user can't use the resources? Are things getting better? I'm not sure. Some web sites are better, but I seem to encounter something everyweek that is stuffed full of all kinds of graphics and context changes that take forever to get through at cellular network speeds. We still have issues with plugins like the Flash player. The need for such, in general makes my point about the browser not being a solution for everything and about how bad the web has gotten. People are using Flash only because tooling allows them to easily wrap video and flash provides them a since of security on how that video will be used. But, that's a farce. The ABC iPad app shows what can happen without a browser and without Flash. And yes, that app has bugs that crash the app...sigh... Gregg Wonderly > cheers > Stu > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > *Yahoo! Canada Toolbar :* Search from anywhere on the web and bookmark > your favourite sites. Download it now! <http://ca.toolbar.yahoo.com/> > > ------------------------------------ Yahoo! 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