Web 2.0 for Designers
By Richard MacManus and Joshua Porter

http://www.digital-web.com/articles/web_2_for_designers/

Web designers have been known to spend hours on end creating and crafting the perfect web site. Whether they choose to create a static site with an artistic layout or a gaudy animated site made with Java Script, it was the designer’s job to make the site appealing and attractive to the users rather than implement the needed content. Web 2.0 has almost completely changed the responsibility of designers.

No longer are they worried about dressing up sites with animations, fancy colors, and unique arrangements. “The Web of documents has morphed into a Web of data. We are no longer just looking to the same old sources for information. Now we’re looking to a new set of tools to aggregate and remix microcontent in new and useful ways.” Web designers now have to be focused on creating useful tools that collect and harness the extreme amount of content found on the web today.

The markup languages of HTML and XHTML are slowly becoming obsolete. Though designers can still use them, a new technology known as XML better reveals the method of semantic markup. The most popular XML format is Really Simple Syndication. RSS, as its name implies, is a very simple way for users to receive updates and new data from popular and frequented websites. “So, instead of browsing to your favorite site over and over again to see if something is new, you can simply subscribe to its RSS feed by typing the RSS URI into a feed aggregator.” Because of the ease of checking for updates, this bypasses the need for users to visit the actual source/URL where the information originates, making those long hours of designing flashy website useless. “XML is the currency of choice in Web 2.0, so words and semantics are more important than presentation and layout.”

Web 2.0 is the future of the internet and is changing the future for designers. They must now worry less about the “design” and more about the content. They “have to start thinking about how to brand content” and “get comfortable with Web services and think beyond presentation of place.” It seems as though designers are almost required to stray away from what they know best. Though they do need to update their technical skills and knowledge of the web as a platform, they must also find a way to blend their creativity with the Web 2.0 world.

25 Examples of Web 2.0 and Traditional Design Rules Coming Together

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/09/25-examples-of-web-2-0-and-traditional-design-rules-coming-together/