It is 2000 all over again

July 8th, 2005 § 21 comments

This year I become one of the honorary judge for Bubu Awards v.04. Again. Remember 2003?

Two years has been passing and to no one surprise, nothing actually change or improve with most of the participants. I know that two years in this digital era is just a blink of an eye but c’mon, where is the improvement?

Let’s go back in history…

Why 2000?

I’ve been involved in web development area since 1995 (10 years? Wow…). I’ve seen the rise and the fall and the survival of dotcom. I’ve been in this environment too long for not noticing the failure of \”state of the art\” technology, user frustration, information overload and how World Wide Web become World Wild West.

In 2000, Jeffrey Veen released his book The Art and Science of Web Design. This book blew my mind and became one of my main references. Even though at that time I was already supporting the Web Standards Projects, I was still not so sure about the whole situation. It was 2000. Mr. Veen’s book changed my perspective and I started evangelizing user oriented website.

It’s not easy back then. When \’blink\’ was more valued than experience. Lots of resistances, cynical comments, marketing jargons and all of that. Slowly I found people that have the same concern and together we learned, exchanged information, shared tips and tricks.

But it was 2000.

Now, 2005

Not much change, really. At least in the Indonesian web development community. Still the same old song. It is still the year 2000. The web is still as polluted as ever with confusing navigation, difficult to find information and frustrating user experience.

The statement above answered Mr. Veen’s question “How much progress have we made in five years time? Is either the art or the science of web design any better now?” on his entry about releasing his great book in digital form (PDF), for free. You can read the entry and get the book here. Go get it, read it (the entry and the book) and get enlightened. And please, stop polluting the web.

And while you read the book, let me feel the chilling everytime a Bubu Awards contestant website slowly appear in my browser…