New Media in Web Design

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New Media & How It's Used in Web Design

"Web 2.0" is a term coined to refer to the focus of web design on the user. To promote this, Web 2.0 sites utilize new media tools and objects, which allow the user to have more freedom and control in the web environment. Some of these elements include the ability for users to drag and drop items as well as easily edit the layout of a site. Web 2.0 allows users of technology to be consumers, producers and editors.

Certain elements of New Media & Web 2.0 include:

  • Polling Features
  • Commenting
  • RSS Feeds
  • Social Bookmarking
  • Networking
  • Other Interactivity

Some books describe Web 2.0 in more detail, such as:

  • Web 2.0 Heroes: Interviews with 20 Web 2.0 Influencers by Bradley L Jones.

(Book Review: link)

  • Web 2.0 Architectures: What Entrepreneurs and Information Architects Need to Know by James Governor.

(Book Review: link)

New Media Web Design:

The emergence of new media and Web 2.0 was characterized by very minimalistic and simple looking sites that had little content, but many features. Homepages often consisted of a single logo, with just one or two buttons, and a login. Domain names often had one vowel removed to create clever names like:

  • Flickr.com
  • Tumblr.com
  • Zoomr.com

While the design of Web 2.0 sites is usually minimalistic, the features they provide are generally very rich and go far beyond simply providing information. Utilizing databases and sophisticated scripts, Web 2.0 websites provide interactivity and social functions.


Web Design and Blogs:

Because of the popularity of blogging, web sites such as blogger.com and wordpress.com provide free, pre-developed blog creation and include templates for easily customizable blog design.

Sites like Tumblr.com provide users with a simple to set up blog and features which allow them to publish various types of content (music, videos, audio, links, etc.) with the touch of a button. Tumblr users can use their mobile phones to post content and even have a phone number to call to record audio content.

In general, web design has become more community-oriented. Blogs display links to other blogs they are associated with. Also, blogs may be enrolled in a public listing, allowing readers to view other blogs that have similar interests.

Some blogs give advice on how to develop a successful blog, such as:

Web Design 2.0: Some General Concepts

Simplicity.

Central Layout.

Fewer Columns.

Separate Top Section.

Simple Navigation.

Website Design Examples

A website that I (Rohin Sharma) have created is dedicated towards Photoshop Brushes called http://PhatBrush.com, It includes various aspects of Web 2.0 designing including a commenting system , polling , social networking as well as the RSS Feed.

References: http://designrfix.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Photoshop-brushes-resources-15.jpg

Other, better known examples of Web 2.0 include:

  • Flickr.com - a photo sharing site
  • Twitter.com - a micro-blogging site
  • Youtube.com - a video sharing site
  • Digg.com - a social news site
  • Yelp.com - a social review site

RSS Feeds

RSS Feeds(Really Simple Syndication) are a tool used by some websites to send users updates on anything from blogs, news headlines, audio, video and downloads. It's very useful in compacting updates from your favorite websites onto your screen. To view your RSS feeds you need to first get an RSS reader, there are many RSS readers out there you can just pick any, and then find a website that allows RSS feeds and subscribe.

RSS Readers:

Sample RSS Feeds:

NEWS

ENTERTAINMENT

FINANCE

SPORTS


Additional information on RSS Feeds:

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