1 November 2007
Web usability guru Jakob Nielsen has suggested hype about Web 2.0 is making web firms neglect the basics of good design.
He warned that the push to make web page’s more dynamic often meant that users were badly served. He said sites that are peppered with personalisation tools closely resembled the "glossy but useless" sites at the height of the dotcom boom.
Research into website use shows that sites were better off getting the basics right, said Mr Nielsen. Describing Web 2.0 as the "latest fashion", Mr Nielsen said many sites paying attention to it were neglecting some of the principles of good design and usability established over the last decade.
Good practices include making a site easy to use, good search tools, the use jargon-free text, usability testing and a consideration of design even before the first line of code is written.
Sadly, said Mr Nielsen, the rush to incorporate Web 2.0 technology meant that many firms were turning their back on the basics. Nielsen comments:
They should get the basics right first, sadly most websites do not have those primary things right.
There was a risk, he said, of a return to the dotcom boom days when many sites, such as Boo.com, were visually superb but terrible to use.
Mr Nielsen continued to explain that the idea of community, user generated content and more dynamic web pages are not inherently bad in the same way, they should be secondary to the primary things websites should get right.
The main criticism or problem is that I do not think these things are as useful as the primary things,
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