Cullmann Design Blog

The last decade has brought in a complete evolution in web design and user experience. From proliferation in browser usage to the wide adoption of standards-based web development and code.

• Location Based Services With the growth of smart phones and internet enabled feature-phones, location based services will explode this year. The massive growth will result from the growing popularity of social media applications, but more so from service-oriented applications. What smart phones and location-aware phones offer users are safe ways to identify themselves and their locations and to quickly locate people or services convenient to their position without using a text entry interface. Businesses, services and other providers can use this information to make relevant communications in real-time response.From the perspective of a marketer, a location-driven application or service can be used to inform customers to potential offers or relevant information about who they are or how easily they can be reached. This can range from locating a pharmacy in the area that stocks a special prescription or a discount latte for the caffeine-addict in your circle of friends.Comfort with these new services will come from social media adoption of location services. There are already some fantastic applications and tools in the space: FourSquare and Gowalla are the most popular. These companies encourage users to “check-in” and offer status rewards for frequent visits and also exploring new areas. Both of these services (and their like), post status updates to larger social networks like Facebook and Twitter. The more places you go, the higher your ranking in the network goes. You can also follow your friends and vice-verse. This allows you to find friends around you and meet-up.For web designers, location services create a huge opportunity for customized interfaces that are relevant to a user’s location and activity. It can also allow users to tailor an interface to their needs and tasks. By identifying a user in a cold region, you can present a cold-weather theme or contextual advertising for snow-boots or a coat. The possibilities are endless and extend the options for a personalized experience beyond what cookies and referring URL data can provide. Location services can extend beyond the phone or gps device with support in the new HTML 5 spec for location or “geolocation” services.
• HTML 5 The end of 2009 brought with it a lot of buzz about HTML 5, a new standard in web development architecture. It’s not some terribly new animal in regards to implementation. It does offer some new exciting features and capabilities (including several ways to present video and audio within the HTML structure without use of a browser plug-in like flash) and solves some presentation issues that had been left behind by the previously vague “transition” standards. It’s most powerful capability is how it allows offline capabilities for developers. Essentially, there is a data-set that can be stored locally in the browser to preserve anything from e-mails and documents to button states. Given the widespread adoption of mobile devices and the use of laptops, this solves a lot of practical problems that developer have had in preserving sessions and states from websites to full cloud-based applications.HTML also gives designers and developers some standard structural elements to work with <header>, <nav> and <footer> to name a few. Most developers and designers who employ best practices already make use of this common nomenclature, but spec support for these objects make ubiquitous support across platforms and devices moving forward easy*. Driving progress are some much needed API features like geolocation, canvas drawing and improved forms. These features will enable location-based features (as noted above), the ability to render complex illustrations, charts and motion graphics without flash or javascript and help facilitate a better and more functional user experience respectively.I don’t expect to see a wide-spread adoption of HTML 5 in the first part of this year. I do expect to see developers and designers using this technology on their own sites and those that are leveraging the HTML 5 specs to offer an enhanced user experience and cutting edge capabilities. I hope to have my own website converted to meet the new spec shortly and begin to use it for consumer-facing client sites.
• IE6 Will Die (Standards based browser will prevail) Internet Explorer 6 was originally developed in 2001. It was a decent browser when it was new. It had several short-comings: not complete support for CSS or DOM, but it was serviceable for its day. In the past 9 years, the web has changed completely and recognizing this, Microsoft has introduced several offerings that recognize the needs of modern users. IE 6 has held strong. IE 6 is still the dominant browser for enterprise. As someone who still designs and develops interfaces for people working for large institutions and businesses, this has been a persistent problem. 2010 Will be the year of change. The Microsoft sunsetting of Windows XP and the persistent security issues with IE 6 combined with the cost of supporting the increased expense of web application and site designers building support for this aging browser will require that companies invest in evolving their initiatives to a standards-based model.As someone who has worked with large clients, I realize that expecting organizations to invest what will be significant costs into redesigning and developing applications to work in browser other than IE 6 is idealistic, I also realize that there is opportunity. The opportunity is in creating an opportunity for organizations, big and small, to be platform agnostic. Rather than having a large group of employees work with a specific operating system and browser, employers who invest in a standards-based solution can offer a solution that will grow and be more extensible. In some cases, this can allow employees and customers to interface with their infrastructure at home or even on mobile devices. There are further advantages such as support for the more secure 64 bit versions of the windows products and the growing mac audience, but the argument of longevity and extensibility is strong enough to not look past the next 12 months to make an upgrade and say goodbye to IE 6.

I’m looking forward to 2010. Web design and development move very quickly and a year is a very long time. I would like to think of myself as a student of life and the opportunity to participate in the challenge that this industry presents is inspiring. I hope this year is as exciting as the last.

As mentioned in my Predictions post, I think Twitter is going to break into the mainstream this year. I also think that Twitter’s appeal will grow with a boon in popularity. This growth is going to require a change in Twitter itself. To me, the attraction to Twitter is the community that you create by who you choose to follow. Although you may follow many, you can control the stream and it’s contents with a variety of choices. Unfortunately, methods to control and organize your stream require using third-party solutions. All of this aside, I think that Twitter represents an embrace of a new communication paradigm.

The biggest challenge Twitter has to face (and it’s faced scaling and adaptation difficulties since it’s launch) a lack of a business model. This effects users in two ways: An insurance that the community that the users are investing their time into will last and that those posters who generate traffic and users have some method to convert their effort into compensation. The second point is not a large issue as most users post for their own pleasure. The first point is an issue, one that I think will be answered this year.

Twitter reinvented as a commercial entity will come in one of 2 forms:

1. A subscription based model:
   Whether this is based on frequency of usage or the number of users you follow, a subscription model will arise. I think this is a possible option despite Twitter being rooted in a “free” model of subscription. I believe that a pro-level account option will arise, similar to the Flickr model. This will result in two-tiers of user with the pro-level user being able to have unlimited posts, followers and perhaps the metrics on click-throughs directly through the Twitter API.
2. An advertising based model:
   Much more likely, Twitter will offer their stream, or a portion of their stream to advertising to subsidize growth. This can be positioned as a non-intrusive targeted advertising campaign with messages inserted into the stream based on context or user profile. I am not sure how Twitter users will respond to this, currently the user group is very media savvy and sensitive to intrusions, no matter how well handled, into their community.

As a Twitter user who consumes much more than contributes, I find Twitter’s most useful features is in immediate, from-the-gut responses to news and current events. Whether those events are changes in browser compatibility, sports scores or breaking world news. It’s a consumable for me and I think that many people will use it in the same way. I don’t think that it’s limited to a Read-Write model.

If Twitter is to really flourish, it will require the ability to both thread conversations and also create a time-line for categories and events. Threading conversations will allow a real dialogue between users (regardless of timing). Time lines (for subjects) will have users easily communicating concepts and themes relative to one another. The combination of the two will equal the power of a good e-mail client. You will be able to parse the trivial from the important, the old and the. Combine this with sorting tweets by user and you have a multi-media sorting tool that is unrivaled.

Until Twitter adds new features, man ambitious developers have created or contributed to some of the great Twitter API projects below:

TWITTER CLIENTS

TwitterDeck Twitter Client
Twirl Twitter Client
Twitterific Twitter Client (OS X Only)
WittyTwitter Twitter Client (Windows Only)

In general I am an observer, but this year, I am going to focus my energy on compiling my thoughts and communicating my ideas. In this spirit, I am beginning with my Technology Predictions for 2009. This list represents what ideas and trends that I think will shape new technologies and trends on the internet in this coming year.

Looking back on 2008, there have been many advancements in technology, the way that people interact with one another and how, as a culture we are adapting the internet into our lives. This year we had seen FaceBook branch into demographics that were thought to be flat for new technologies. Social Networking is maturing into a very defined epicenter of our lives. Whether we are interacting socially using FaceBook or MySpace, for Business with LinkedIn or for Entertainment using NetFlix and Joost. The ability to share with and effect one another’s opinions is a powerful and compelling pull for users.

I think 2009 will see the continuation of many trends: continued growth of social networking, wider adoption of web-based tools and “cloud” based storage and distribution. I think the following list will show the most prominent areas for growth this year:

1. Social Media Consolidation-Interoperability
   FaceBook, MySpace, LinkedIn…there are so many networks used by so many groups. 2009 will see the emergence of some type of global identity management. Although a few have emerged this year, a single, widely adopted standard will emerge. My bet is for OpenSocial (Google’s social media identity key)
2. Medical Record and HealthCare Applications
   People becoming increasingly comfortable with managing their lives online will lead to those same users trusting more in online data management. Google will likely emerge as the standard here since they represent the most stable name in technology (with the exception of MicroSoft). This year will see an online personal medical record standard become adapted by a notable share of the general public (at the very least, the early adopter set)
3. Twitter will become popular via adoption by celebrity set/marketing
   2009 will see a surge to Twitter. This wider adoption will result from a celebrity of note using Twitter as a marketing tool. This same surge will also result in marketers using Twitter for “deal” based traffic drives. Small-scale examples are already proving successful for Dell and Adagio
4. AIR/Silverlight will become mature solutions for “cloud-based” computing
   A dependence of “cloud-based” apps will spur an evolution of Rich Internet Application (RIA), Desktop convergence. Currently, Adobe’s AIR and MicroSoft’s Silverlight are the clear candidates that will battle for developer’s attentions in 2009.
5. New online advertising model based on “individual” social media status and/or popularity
   Social Netowrking wesbites and Video sites will force advertisers to embrace new ad-models. These models will be very targeted and account for the content on a given page, the popularity of the content and expected longevity. This will be a boon for those who learn to master the metrics of these complicated new behavior models
6. Windows 7 will be a widely adopted release and MicroSoft’s most successful OS release
   VISTA was a marketing and adoption failure. As a VISTA user myself, I don’t see why there was no widespread move to VISTA (although I myself have moved back and forth between XP and VISTA three times since VISTA’s release). Windows 7, already a very mature BETA positioned for release Q3 this year, promises to make up for lost time. MicroSoft’s low-no hype on this release and it’s base in a currently mature VISTA architecture will have users who have been dragging their feet adopt this new Windows release
7. IPTV and the computer as a true media hub
   YouTube, Hulu, Joost, and network-branded websites will all take a large share of viewer attention. Metrics show that younger users already take preference to the computer as their preferred medium. As the media loosens it’s grip on content and advertising models adapt, more and more viewers will flock to watch their favorite shows on their own schedule, in their own terms and in their own time. Intelligent advertising will focus ads and make those spots that are viewed more relavent and easy to monitor and act upon

Happy New Year.