In the beginning, there was HTML, and lo, there was much rejoicing among the scientists. Content was king. HTML was to provide guidelines for presentation, without dictating exact formatting. Lynx and Mosaic users existed in harmony.
Then came the .com rush, and with them, their horde of designers. Designers used tables to wring miracles from HTML, all above the protests of the purists -- "HTML is not a page description language!", "What about the Lynx users??" etc.
But what the purists missed was that the landscape had changed. HTML was no longer just about content: de facto, it had become about the presentation as well. Eventually CSS caught up and specs mirrored reality.
Ironically, it's the designers, like the author, who are now missing the context change. It's their turn to be the dinosaurs. Web 2.0 is not just about more presentation options; spice and sugar on a page-oriented website. AJAX is about building applications that use the browser as the environment. Protesting that cell phone users won't be able to use the app is missing the point. Do people complain that Writely doesn't work on a cellphone?
Sure, that may be what AJAX and Web 2.0 are about. But isn't the point of a web site to provide some service? In the case of Lala, the service is to facilitate CD trading (or something along those lines). To best provide that service, do they really need Web 2.0 and AJAX? If they want to accomodate users of mobile devices (and wouldn't they? every visitor is a potential customer), then they should provide a working interface for those users.
On the other hand, if they think AJAX is the best way to provide their service, that's up to them... it's their web site. I think the author really means that they should be designing for a wider audience if they want to appease as many visitors as possible. Whether that demographic is important enough to bother with is another question.
What is the benefit of using the "web browser as the environment" mentality in this case? Future extensibility? Scalability? Rapid development? Or just that they couldn't think of a better way to do it?
Then came the .com rush, and with them, their horde of designers. Designers used tables to wring miracles from HTML, all above the protests of the purists -- "HTML is not a page description language!", "What about the Lynx users??" etc.
But what the purists missed was that the landscape had changed. HTML was no longer just about content: de facto, it had become about the presentation as well. Eventually CSS caught up and specs mirrored reality.
Ironically, it's the designers, like the author, who are now missing the context change. It's their turn to be the dinosaurs. Web 2.0 is not just about more presentation options; spice and sugar on a page-oriented website. AJAX is about building applications that use the browser as the environment. Protesting that cell phone users won't be able to use the app is missing the point. Do people complain that Writely doesn't work on a cellphone?
(Well, maybe they do. Stuff 'em! :)