Web 2.0 is defined as an emerging pattern of new uses of the web and approaches to the web development. It’s an attitude and not a technology, but new mindset to how the web can be used. Web 2.0 is considered as read and write web.
 

The term "Web 2.0" describes the changing trends in the use of WWW technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, communications, secure information sharing, collaboration and functionality of the web. Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as a platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform.

 

Project Scenarios

* New Web application – Design, architect, and develop from scratch
* Enhancements – Bring about changes to an existing Web 1.0 website.
 

Our recommendations for your Web 2.0 strategy

 

Web 2.0 in Web design graphics

 

Recommendations to be be considered while designing the UI for Web 2.0 website

 

# Simplicity - Web design is simpler than ever. Web 2.0 design means focused, clean and simple.

 

# Central layout – This "2.0" style is simple, bold and honest. Sites that sit straight front & center feel more simple, bold and honest. Because we are being more economical with our pixels (and content), not as pressured to cram as much information as possible above the waterline/fold.

 

# Fewer columns – Less is more. Fewer columns feels simpler, bolder, and more honest. We're communicating less information more clearly. This is a by-product of the domination of centered layouts. Because we do not fill the whole screen so much, and not trying to get as much on-screen at any one time, limit the number of columns of information.
 

# Strong colors – Bright, strong colours draw the eye. Use them to divide the page into clear sections, and to highlight important elements.
 

# Separate top sections – This means making the top of the screen (the main branding & nav area) distinct from the rest (the main content). On any site, both the main branding and main navigation should be obvious, bold and clear.
 

# Simple navigation – Permanent navigation – your global site navigation which appears on every page as part of the page template – needs to be clearly identifiable as navigation, and should be easy to interpret, target and select. Our Web 2.0 design makes global navigation large, bold, clean and obvious. Inline hyper links (links within text) are typically clearly differentiated from normal text
 

# Bold logos – A clear, bold, strong brand – incorporating attitude, tone of voice, and first impression – is helped by a bold logo.
 

Include AJAX and JQuery effects to the UI.
 

Open Standards:

The web is the only true link that unites us all together whoever we are and wherever we are in the world. Hence, to harness collective intelligence and to create the intelligent web – one needs to include as many participants as possible. The only way you can achieve this is to treat the web as a platform and use open standards. Implementation of Google Map APIs, Weather API’s, Spam Block API (Akismet) etc.
 

User Interaction and Participation:

Critical mass of participation is reached within a site or system, allowing the participants to act as a means to identify what is valuable. There are some important ways to achieve collective intelligence. Websites should provide facility for its visitors to add contributions. A site should get combined contributions from its users. blogs, forums, articles, wikis etc can be included to achieve these objectives.
 

Power of Data:

Web 2.0 leverages the power of context. Accessing data from a supplier and presenting that data within a specific context makes the information more meaningful. Text, music, pod casts, video clips, images, photographs, simulation, and documents in various formats all have a role in the development of rich content.
 

Social Book Marking:

Social bookmark allows users to share their Internet resources which they find useful. And other peoples with same interests can view the links by tags. digg.com, del.icio.us, reddit are examples.
 

Web Syndication:

Web syndication is a form of syndication in which website material is made available to multiple other sites. Most commonly, web syndication refers to making web feeds available from a site in order to provide other people with a summary of the websites recently added content (for example, the latest news or forum posts) RSS, Atom, OPML etc
 

Reach to more Devices:

More devices to capture information and better flow of information between these devices leads to a higher degree of collective intelligence. We recommend a mobile (small browser) version of the website.
 

SEO and Web 2.0:

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines. Usually, the earlier a site is presented in the search results, or the higher it "ranks," the more searchers will visit that site. SEO can also target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines.

Strongly recommend user friendly urls.

Ping Service:

Ping services allow you to automatically notify blog directories and search engines that your content has been updated. The bigger your ping lists the higher the chances of receiving traffic from those sources. Pingomatic, Technorati, newsgator, google blog search are examples.

Web2.0 specific features for different types of websites
 

Static websites

# Simplicity
# Central layout
# Fewer columns
# Few colors
# Separate top sections
# Simple navigation
# Bold logos
 

Corporate Webs ites

# Syndications
# Customized search
# Podcasts
# Culture based Home page (Select Country wise Home page)
# Book markings
# Blogs
# Forums
# Mobile versions
 

CMS enabled Websites

# Display the contents in the layout style with each section having edit option. Like web part zones.
# Show Control panels
# Manage Page functions (add page , page settings etc)
# Add Panes, modules
# Basic and advanced site settings
# File manager
# Search functionality
 

Commerce Websites

# Display the latest items in the Home page
# List features and services
# Today’s recommendations for You
# Today’s deals
# Gifts and Wish lists
# Recent History of orders
# Links to Partner sites
# RSS Feeds
# Blogs
# Mobile versions
 

Community Websites

# Friends listing (Add friends)
# Search
# Groups of similar users(Create or remove groups)
# Events listing
# Photo sharing (Albums (add, edit or delete))
# Image tagging
# Chats and messaging (scraps)
# Shared links
# Videos
# Recent Alerts from friends
# Add/Remove applications
# Mobile versions
 

Web Portals

# Theme selection
# Search using Google API
# My links – Add Links
# Syndications
# Embed Videos
# Podcasts
# My Stuff
# Directory and Service listings
# Web mails
# Blogs
# Forums
# Mobile versions
 

Extranets

# Customized search
# Custom API Integration
# Embedding Videos
# RSS Feeds
# Dashboard list the latest / to do activities
# Web mails
# Ajax UI Effects
# Mobile versions
 

Intranets

# Dashboard – list the latest / to do activities
# Simplified UI features

We have the following recommendations that can be implemented in websites that are part of your Web 2.0 strategy.

• Bookmarking sites – digg.com, del.icio.us, reddit.
• Users Contribution – Blogs, Articles with Comments, Forums, Wiki’s etc.
• Syndication – RSS, Atom, OPML etc
• Ping service – pingomatic, Technorati, newsgator, google blog search etc
• Customized Search – Using Google, Yahoo! Search API’s
• AJAX – Drag n Drop, Reordering, Sorting, Resizing, and Modal Popup with transparent background.
• Custom API integration – Google Maps API, Weather API’s, Spam Block API (Akismet) etc.
• Embedding videos – from YouTube, Google videos etc.
• Feed management – Feedburner integration
• Podcasting, webcasting
• Friendly URL’s
• SEO strategy
• Blogs
• Forums

Tags: consultancy, Online marketing, social media, web 2.0

This entry was posted on Monday, January 5th, 2009 at 8:10 am and is filed under AJAX, Google API, portal development, research, search, web 2.0. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.