True Stories:

Web 2.0-styled design

I will start with stating that I am not a fan of web 2.0.  I consider this term to be rather ambiguous. No, I am not against social networks, I would vote for AJAX with both hands, and I am writing this article straight to our blog. It makes no sense to me why one would need web 2.0 if not just for fooling venture capitalists. However, regardless whether we like it or not, this term enters our life and our clients start asking us about “web 2.0-styled” design.

And what is “web 2.0-styled” design? Letters pictured with reflections? Rounded corners? Let’s drop these cliche’s for being infinitesimal and consider some examples. I took some liberty to compile a short list of the most vibrant, as I see them, representatives of the new wave in web design.

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Visual style: uniform or custom-tailored?

There is an opinion that non-standard theming is a property of an entertaining, non-serious application suited, in any case, for home, non-professional use. Moreover, this opinion is carved in the holy testimonies of Windows UX Guide:

As a general rule, application theming is appropriate for programs where the overall experience is more important than productivity. Highly themed applications should be immersive, yet only used for short periods of time. This rule makes theming suitable for games and kiosk applications, but unsuitable for productivity applications.

Non-standard visual style equals enemy of productivity. This is gives as an axiom. Is it really so?

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