Web 2.0 sucks

Thank you, marketeers! Thank you for this wonderful term. Web 2.0 really is spot-on. Allright, let’s drop the sarcasm; buzz-words suck. I believe they endanger the web and confuse starting web developers.

AJAX == Javascript!

I actually had someone telling me last week, how amazing he thought AJAX was. He referred to a Dutch website stuffed with slick animation, smooth transitions and whatnot. I told him, that’s not AJAX, that’s just Javascript. According to my discussion partner, Javascript sucks. There is no cross-browser consistency in Javascript and it’s a bitch to script Javascript.

It doesn’t matter if this is true or not, it’s still just Javascript.

I believe this is why buzz-words and the likes should be avoided like the plague. People hear something, people like the sound of it, people go with it. AJAX is nothing more than making a connection with either an XML-document or a server-side script through Javascript.

What’s in a name?

Nothing’s in a name. Of course not. But I think buzz-words like Web 2.0 make it easier for newbies to convert to the Dark Side. They want to learn AJAX, not Javascript and probably turn to some libary or framework that does all the dirty work for them. This way an increasing number of inexperienced developers enters the scene, with no knowledge of accessibility or usability.

I’m not saying everyone should know the specs by heart, but it’s easier to follow a hype than to study accessibility, isn’t it? And by making it a hype, more and more attention will be going to fancy schmancy webpages that can be dubbed “Web 2.0”.

I have yet to encounter my first client who asks for a “Web 2.0 website” and I hope I never have to cater to such a request. All this doesn’t mean I don’t like animation, or AJAX, or anything other people tend to call “Web 2.0”. I just think things should not be clouded by random buzz-words that put a lot of “fluff and hot air” into something that’s otherwise just a brilliant new technique.