We’ve been hearing a lot about AJAX and Web 2.0 — especially around here on the O’Reilly blogs. And while I agree the technology is flexible and fun (what’s a Widget other than a mini AJAX app, after all?), I really haven’t grokked what all the hullabaloo is about. I mean, I understand the code that makes my movies look like they’re talking is pretty cutting-edge stuff. But if it’s as pointless and/or annoying as what most Web 2.0 sites have offered up by way of features, the whole thing might as well be another blink tag.
Don’t get me wrong, projects like Writely and just about everything by google are rad. But they’re really just desktop applications ported into webspace. I was kinda hoping Web 2.0 would bring some real usability to you everyday plain jane web page as well.
Enter Panic, a small software company that has basically worked out how to bottle and sell quality. If you’re a fan of Transmit (or even Katamari Damacy!), and you want to let the world know, you might consider buying some t-shirts from them. And with their fancy-pants, drag-and-drop interface, you’ll probably smile while doing it. And when it comes right down to it, isn’t that what the web is really all about?
Ok, I know it’s not. But my point is that if Web 2.0 can make something as 1990s as an online shopping cart feel fresh and new again, then this — and not all these web-enabled Office clones — is what’s going to prove that it’s got the guns to back up all the hype we’ve been hearing about it. Sure, everyone else has already figured this out, but I’m slow, so I think this is exciting!
And Panic? Apart from their brilliant software and great t-shirts they are also known for having their designs stolen and spread throughout the interweb. As I am now officially excited about Web 2.0, I don’t think this design can be ripped off soon enough!
Gah, your mention of the blink tag (including the < and > symbols) has made my rss reader - bloglines - render everything in your post from that point onwards as blinking text.
Having four paragraphs of text blinking at me sure makes it hard to read what you're trying to say.
Mind you, it's not your fault, it's just that bloglines translates the html safe < and > into the real characters.
Erm,
The Panic online store has had this drag and drop DHTML/Javascript functionality since January/February 2005 - long before these technologies were given a fancyarse name like AJAX, and long before companies started attempting to copyright and monetize phrases like Web 2.0
Where have you been?
Where have you been?
Wow. Did I not say "I'm slow" and "everyone has already figured this out" often enough in the post?
Just to be clear, then, this is not breaking news! It's a page I find interesting, not nearly wide-spread enough, and I feel it serves to underscore the importance of applying Web 2.0 technologies to humble interface challenges. This is something a web page can do even if it was scripted in January of 2000, so I don't see how the date on which the site was actually commissioned really matters. But there you are.
I also don't see what value there is in drawing distinctions between things that were made using a set of technologies before and after said technologies were named. I posted log entries on my web pages long before there were "blogs". Guess what I call my posts now? Blogs! Because that's the name they've been given. Causality doesn't factor into it.
While it is a nice shopping cart it also shows the typical problem with cross browser support. It works fine in Firefox 1.5 but with Opera 9 I can't drag items out of the shopping cart. So call me old fashioned but I'd rather use one of the boring little shopping carts like the one at amazon.com which works with all the browsers I know.