Icons of Web 2.0
There are many Web 2.0 services out there yet only a few have become iconic. In this post, I’ll run through some of the iconic images associated with the Web 2.0 and just why they have gained this status.
The digg button
Its amazing, this simple button belies one of the key features that made digg.com what it is today. Its the simplicity of the digg button, both in the way it allows for simple interaction as well as the way it conveys the popularity of a story. Every digg knock-off that comes along has tried their own variations on the digg button, but none have bettered it. Take reddit for example, on their version of the digg button they have the option to either vote up or down. Of course this button is now crammed with that key Web 2.0 magical ingredient, AJAX, which makes the interaction that litte bit easier.
Wikipedia Edit Link
If there was ever a universal way of saying “Read/Write Web”, then this is it. Out of all the Web 2.0 services, Wikipedia seems to have entered into the public’s psyche more than any other. People use Wikipedia and people actually understand it, for the most part. Just like the digg button, theres a simplicity behind this link that makes it easy to determine its purpose. Theres no hiding behind fancy terminology here. It only remains to be seen whether people realise the implication of the fact that they can Edit the page their reading. Five years ago, that would be mind blowing to most people.
flickr Logo
I didn’t want to pack this article with logos, thats an entirely different topic as far as I’m concerned. flickr, on the other hand started not only the trend for typeface-only logos but also the trend for stupid names. Of course, flickr has allot more to offer but really, the whole stupid name trend has assured its place in infamy.
37 Signals
37 Signals is the Web 2.0 Company. Not only are they the pioneers behind one of the Web 2.0 enablers, Ruby on Rails, but they brought the Web 2.0 to the business world with products like Basecamp. If you’ve ever used one of their services, you’ll be well aware that they combine fantastic usability as well as all the feature you expect. Not only that, but applications such as Basecamp are so good to use, its encouraged people to manage their time and projects that never would have without it. I think Basecamp is a great example of the 20% rule I’ve mentioned earlier. Basecamp has only a fraction of the functionality found in a product such as MS Project, yet you can still achieve the same goals. In fact, because its so much easier to use, your more likely to keep things under control.
YouTube Video Player
Personally, i feel a great sense of relief when I see the YouTube player appear in a blog post or on a website. I know that it means I can easily and quickly watch a video, no downloads, no messing with file types, it just works. For those of us who were around before YouTube, watching videos, even short ones, online was a mess. You either had to download the file or deal with the unpredictable media streaming. This meant that if you had a ten second video you wanted to share with people, it really wasn’t worth 2 minutes of their effort to watch it. YouTube, and its ilk, has changed all that.
The Loading Image
Ah, laugh all you want but this simple little gif that appears wherever AJAX does has lead the way in user feedback. No more is there a period of uncertainty after clicking a button, wondering whether its going to load or not, or resubmitting a request. Now, we have isntant feedback, something that is particularly important for long loading times, such as those found on multimedia sites. Strangely, one of the pioneers of this type of user feedback was British Rail. They found that because querying the timetable database took so long, people thought nothing was happening so they would click the submit button again. To cure this they added an extra page to the site that displayed a coffee cup and a “Please Wait” message. With Ajax this has come to signify a single page action as opposed to something like the British Rail example, but the principal of providing the user with feedback still applies.
I’d like to follow this article up with some more icons of the Web 2.0 age, so if feel strongly about something being added, please feel free to add it in the comments. I suspect gMail will make it in next time, as will del.icio.us.icio.us and blogging. All images are copyright their respective owners, Ajax loading image provided by www.ajaxload.info.
This post was written on Friday, March 23rd 2007 by Simon T and has been categorised under Web 2.0. The trackback URL is here or you could add a response. If you really want to you can Digg Story or add it to del.icio.us, Technorati Cosmos, Blinklist, furl or Reddit.
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July 17th, 2007 at 9:46 am
The RSS icon!
July 17th, 2007 at 10:15 am
Good call! I can’t believe I missed that out!