Mobile Web 2009 = Desktop Web 1998

The original article by Jakob Nielsen: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/mobile-usability.html
The article was found through informationdesign.org in its ‘Usability’ category. And that site was found through informationweek.com that is not only an on-line version of Information Week magazine but a large news web site about information technologies.

In the article “Mobile Web 2009 = Desktop Web 1998” posted on February 17, 2009 its author, Jacob Nielsen, a researcher on user interfaces, debates about the weaknesses of mobile web usability and that progress in it moved just at half pace of wired usability during the nine year period. Based on his research Mr. Nielsen finds that today mobile web user experience quality is really poor and for its improvement a lot of progressive changes should be done in both ways: mobile devices and mobile web sites. Sites must develop specialized designs that optimize the mobile user experience and the iPhone is a great starting point for mobile online-services access.
I find this article could be interesting for the class, because we all use mobile phones and internet. And I’m pretty sure that everyone was excited when the Internet became mobile and those features became more available. In my experience I was disappointed and turned the Internet features off on my T-Mobile Wing in 3 months (I would like to do that even earlier, but the contract didn’t let me). It was too slow and, because of that, unnecessary. I guess progressive improvements in this field will be the good news for a lot of people.

The Web As A Part Of Our Life

Since yesterday I have a huge problem at home, even a catastrophe! No Internet connection! After not so successful upgrade of our building by the provider the half of it doesn’t have any Internet, TV or telephone connection. So, how can I do my homework assignments? They are all online and I need to be online to finish them. This is the reality: thanks to the high speed speed Internet and Web 2.0 we can store and share all the information somewhere in the Web.

Definitions:

Ajax – (technology platform) an intermediary between the user and the server. Makes asynchronous server communication possible.
AdSense – an advertising program that anyone who publishes a web site can use to generate income for their web site. Google must approve your site before ads are shown on your site.
DoubleClick – a company that develops and provides Internet ad serving services.
Orkut – social networking and discussion site operated by Google.
Ruby – dynamic, open source programming language with a focus on simplicity and productivity.
Sxipper – a free Firefox add-on that lets you log into any web site with a single click. It keeps track of all of your user IDs, passwords, etc.
Viola Web Browser – the first web browser with inline graphics, scripting, tables, stylesheet (first released around April 1992).
VoIP – voice over Internet Protocol – a technology for transmitting voice conversations via the Internet.
Web 2.0 web sites - current generation of web sites that make good use of HTML and CSS while improving their interface with Ajax and social networking tools.
Web application – application that is accessed via web browser over a network (Internet).
Webtop – online software applications (web-based apps) that are similar to the ones that we have on our desktops: Writely ~ Microsoft Word, Zimbra ~ Microsoft Outlook.

I’ve searched all those definitions through the Internet. I also asked some people about Ajax and site examples that use it as well as what do they think about Web 2.0. I even looked through the books (like “Google AdSense For Dummies”, “Practical Web 2.0 Applications WithPHP”). Anyway, in my everyday living I search through the Internet. Any question in my mind - I immediately type it in the Google Search and then (depends on what I’m searching for) I prefer to read the articles from Wikipedia. As a person whose native language is not English I use online dictionaries like dictionary.com (they have even a pronunciation for each word) and lingvo.ru (for a quicker understanding) to search the words’ meaning.