- December 23, 2010
Wish Upon a ★
- @kevinmhoffman
- User Experience Director
The year 2010 was a wild one for the web. It saw the release of the iPad
and all of the subsequent great ideas and discussion about flexible design approaches. HTML was cool again (the cinco!). Twitter got a major overhaul and Facebook got between 35 and 268 small facelifts. It was as if millions of bookmarks cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced when rumor had it delicio.us was disappeari.ng. In fact, someone apparently took the web’s pulse and pronounced it DOA!
At Happy Cog, however, we feel like the web is alive and well, and can’t wait to see what 2011 has in store for web design and development. Here are a few of our wishes for the next calendar year of world wide web wisdom and wit.
What is your one wish for the web in 2011?
Industry Wishes
More job growth for the unemployed web industry folks, especially junior level candidates and recent graduates.
– Jessica Ivins
Ending the ridiculous valuation nonsense. Or at least have someone explain it in plain English to me.
– Greg Hoy
My hope is that everyone will read this and sign this. And then do this.
– Brett Harned
In the Category of Design Practice, the Wish Goes To…
Tyra Banks has a phrase where she tells girls to “Stop relying on pretty.” Usually this means the former waitress turned aspiring model is going to get her luscious hair cape chopped off and ratings will rocket. Really, though, my wish is we stop relying on pretty (pixels) and tell more meaningful stories in our work; focus less on getting praise for our Photoshop wizardry and more on these stories.
– Yesenia Perez-Cruz
What is my one wish? To stop designing the 8.5×11 tri-fold brochure of the web: A hero area with three sub features.
– Greg Storey
Can’t We All Just Get Along?
More emphasis on the things that are right and working, less on the broken pieces and the flaws, or at least putting that in a more positive light. We like to profess that being in beta is an okay thing, but rarely do people say “For a first try, this is great—I hope they improve”, instead they say, “THIS SUCKS I’LL NEVER USE YOU AGAIN!”.
– Russ Unger
Less grumpiness and complaining. Instead, more building people up and making awesome stuff.
– Brian Warren
More signal, less noise. Signal like original tactical thought, open-minded dialogue, and patience and support for new learners. Noise like content collecting and repurposing, weird social media scams, and debates about the meaning of labels and job titles for various communities of practice.
- Kevin M. Hoffman
Do It For the Kids!
I believe the children are the future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. (Experienced web professionals should become increasingly involved in shaping higher education web curriculum.)
- Chris Cashdollar
I’d love to see 2011 bring a greater focus and energy around higher education systems and standards for web design+development. With greater participation by leaders like HC and our industry colleagues in the WaSP Education Task Force, we may finally answer the question: Do they know it’s Christmas-time at all?
- Robert Jolly
For Whom The Bells Toll Most Often
More opportunities for the lesser known but equally talented. Too often we choose to celebrate names instead of good work.
- Joey Pfeifer
Fail!
Lots of spectacular f*ck ups and less playing it safe with generic retreads of comfortable ideas.
- Kevin Sharon
More willingness to learn and experiment. Not all technology can or should be “dead simple.” By not allowing some learning curve, we stop caring about how things work. Once we do that, we lose the ability to push technology forward as well as the ability to prevent it from causing harm.
- Matt Clark
Precious Wishes With Acronyms (PWWA)
Nerdy: A true web development SDK. Including tab views, list views, split views, menus, etc.
Realistic: A calculated approach to improving the underlying structure of the web. Beyond just adding slide controls.
- Mark Huot
Finalized WAI-ARIA specifications and better support for it.
- Jenn Lukas
You’re Doing It Wrong
That more restaurants will stop using bad flash sites, PDF menus, and please please please stop giving me a soundtrack. Will this be the year?
- Niff Nicholls
My wish for the web in 2011 is more cow bell!
But if that doesn’t work, I’d settle for more mobile or portable web work. The early adopters, while they haven’t forsaken their computers completely, are heading toward iPad and mobile as primary interfaces for their web experience. I think we need to be on that bleeding edge.
Dan!
- Dave DeRuchie
My wish for the web is that my parents realize that the Internet is not out to get them, their money and their first born children. The fact that the Yellow Pages are being discontinued to save trees is a good thing…that’s what Google and 411 is for.
- Helenita Johnston
Less is more. Seriously. I want to see more web sites with less crap on them. Less irritating advertising, less social media call outs and more focus on the core content.
- Stephen Caver
Less snark. More pre-launch testing for users with JS turned off. Less “You’re doing it wrong.” More @HTML5DOUCHE tweets (his snark is acceptable). Less Fro-Yo. More Meatballs.
- Allison Wagner
Can You Feel Me?
Better ways to understand intent and emotion via non-verbal channels (IM, Basecamp, etc.)
- Drew Warkentin
LOLcat Revolution
Resurgence of the LOLcats.
- Ryan Irelan
From the “Tweets About Leaks” Department
Some transparency is just bad manners.
- Jeffrey Zeldman
What about you? What is your one wish for the web in 2011?