So CBS Marketwatch uses AJAX to update stock prices in-line in the article, and there’s a bunch of people who don’t like it and find it distracting. I can see their point…having text in an article change as your reading it does make it hard to focus. Mind you reading and article with stock prices that are wrong probably isn’t that helpful either, and in a site that’s called Marketwatch chances are people would like to know what the market is currently at. (I think…admitedly most of the stock I’ve ever owned was given to be my tech companies I consulted for so I didn’t have stock quotes streamed to cell phone)
Jason Fried from 37Signals doesn’t like this and thinks it’s
AJAX overkill. Paul Kedrosky doesn’t think much of it either. I think that’s kind of funny because I almost used this as example of AJAX in a Web2.0 panel I presented at with Paul earlier this year. Paul’s point about real-time quotes that are actually delayed is well taken.
However, they also has a neat hover feature on the ticker symbol that gives you a real time graph view of the stocks performance. I think it’s very handy because you don’t have to do to a new page to get this small, but pertinent, bit of data.
I think they could combine these features in a
Tufte like manner and really help users absorb information faster with animated / real-time
sparklines graphs. That could also be viewed as distracting though I suppose.
Interesting to see AJAX adoption in new places and the debate around it’s merits and pit falls. This type of discussion is much more interesting than just listening to people whine about broken back-buttons (which are broken in most web applications, NOT just AJAX apps!), etc…
Technorati Tags : AJAX, Usability, Sparklines
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Our favorite AJAX bloggers over at
Ajaxian have teamed up with
No Fluff Just Stuff to put on “
The AJAX Experience“. It will be held in San Francisco from May 10th to the12th. Just before JavaOne. It’s going to be an action packed week, I’ll be down at both events.
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There’s two great interviews by Alexei White up on AJAXInfo.com with some leading minds in RIA.
Christian Cantrell, of Adobe, discusses the future of Flex2 and MXML in Adobe’s technology stack as it applies to Enterprise RIA. He finished with giving us a hint of something for the future:
One thing I think Ajax developers really need to keep an eye on is Adobe`s new project which we`re calling Apollo. Adobe is a very big believer in a universal client which will let developers leverage HTML, Ajax, and Flash consistently across platforms.
Sounds interesting and I can’t wait to hear more from Christian on this.
Next Alexei caught up with
Kurt Cagle to chat about XUL and SVG and how they might play with AJAX. Kurt talks about “XGULFs – XML Graphical User interface Language Frameworks” and includes XUL, XAML and MXML in there. I’m particularly interested in what the future holds for the XUL vs XAML battle. Although, I don’t have high hopes for XUL given microsoft’s market dominance. Kurt says:
Is XUL market-ready now? No, though its not far. It needs a better toolkit for production, needs a real IDE, MUCH better documentation, and a decent body of literature.
I’m guessing adoption of all these RIA technologies will be slowed somewhat by AJAX given that it’s here now and “good enough”. I’ll talk more about that later though.
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Seems like I’m not the only one thinking about how AJAX will change the way we think of desktop apps compared and browser based apps. I know
Will Pate’s been interested in this since at least October when I gave an AJAX / Usability presentation to
VanUE. In my recent Developer.com article I looked at some areas where I believe AJAX-powered web apps will take over and areas where I think desktop apps are here to stay. And Christian Cantrell of Adobe has
some thoughts on the issue as well. In particular he thinks web apps need to become more robust and that many web apps will move to the desktop for offline data storage amongst other things. I think we’ll see a hybrid of the two worlds more often in the future. Such as web apps with offline capability and network centric desktop apps. It’s an exciting time for sure.
Technorati Tags : AJAX, desktop, web2.0, UI, Developer.com
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This is my favorite ’06 tech prediction:
Attempting to capitalize on the popularity of ultra-simple services such as 37Signals’ Backpack, a startup called 0Things will release a service that does absolutely nothing. Following a positive writeup on the TechCrunch blog, it will be a smash hit before selling out three months later to Google for a rumored $60 million, after which people will decide it sucks.
More hilarious predictions from Rob Hof at BusinessWeek on his blog.
PS. Hey Rob, who are the founders? Can I trackback to their blogs? I’d like to be an Angel for 0Things and invest now!
Technorati Tags : humor, web2.0, predictions
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Well turns out I’m a participant in the hype that is Web2.0 according to the:
Top Ten Web 2.0 Moments of 2005 by
ZDNet‘s Richard MacManus — It’s been a huge year for the Web! A time of renewed optimism in Silicon Valley and an incredible number of new web applications. In a sense it all started with Google’s IPO in August 2004, the success of which was a positive and affirming lead-in to 2005. We then witnessed a renaissance of startup activity, acquisitions and intense VC interest in the Web throughout the year. Here then is my list of the top ten defining moments for the Web in 2005. […]
I’m a big proponent and advocate of…
7. Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications – Jesse James Garrett’s influential essay which coined the term AJAX (shorthand for Asynchronous JavaScript + XML). The technology itself has been around for years, but the term AJAX was only introduced this year and has quickly become a defining part of the new Web.
And was a participant in the most important part of Web 2.0 in 2005…
1. Web 2.0 Conference. It was difficult to pick any one item that was the highlight of the year, so I gave the number one spot to an event that captured the innovation, enthusiasm and even the cynicism that surrounded the Web 2.0 meme this year. Was it the most important Web 2.0 moment of the year? Some might quibble with that, but the sold out October event was a nexus of Web 2.0 energy and jam packed with people. It showed that the Web is generating excitement and activity again, across both the development and business worlds.
Thank Rich! I feel like I’m part of the bubble now, I mean the “in crowd”…well at least 20% of it. Yeeha! Maybe I can up that next year. 30% in 2006? Dare to dream…
In all honesty I can believe the year is over and all of that took place…and it seems like the momentum is just getting started. I’m actually very excited about next year.
Technorati Tags : Web20, topten, top10, ajax
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http://www.ebusiness-apps.com/christmas/
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Office 12′s new UI and the ribbon toolbar are cool. I haven’t installed the new Office suite yet, but am looking forward to playing around with it. I wonder if it will really improve the user experience. Regardless I’m sure it will set a trend in office app UIs.
Technorati Tags : office12, ui, usability, hci
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Office 12′s dictionary seems a bit funny given the times we’re in. Does Microsot not know what a wiki is?
Here’s some terms that are in and out:
Not in:
In:
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Well my AJAX top 10 list didn’t make Letterman, but Developer.com thought it might suit their audience;-)
Top Ten Reasons for AJAX
At number….
- XAML, XUL, XForms…Not Yet.
- Server Technology Agnostic
- Web 2.0
- Adoption Is Strong with Industry Leaders
- Plays Nicely with Flex and Flash
- Low Incremental Cost
- Benefits of Regular Web Applications
- Cross Browser and Cross Platform
- Usability and User Experience Are King
And the top reason….
- Open Standards Based
The rest of the article I wrote is here at Developer.com.
Technorati Tags : AJAX, Usability
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