I'd like to let folks know about the Web Standard Project's new
International Liaison Group. Among the group's various goals is to promote standards around the globe, and do so by making resources and information available in multiple languages.
For those not aware, there's a new social networking medium called Twitter. Twitter is sort of a combo platter of SMS, Web, and IM messaging where individuals answer the question "What are you doing?" The network has taken off amidst a fair amount of criticism, but also with plenty of people testing it out and using it to see how it fits into their communication wants and needs.
Just a few days ago, several interface changes to Twitter launched a lot of feedback from its users, who complained they didn't like the changes. Changing an interface, particularly in an early-adoption mode of a Web application, seems to me to be a very "beta" thing to do. It also harkens me back to the days I was working with MSN Communities, where we didn't have the types of forward-facing communication opportunites we do today. Interface changes would be made on a regular basis, and community managers were not able to let users know about these changes in advance.
I'm wondering if others feel the concern that I do regarding interface changes on a live site or within a given Web app. Naturally, a site is going to change and evolve. But what can we as the developers, designers and others working on it do to offer our users a better transitional experience?
Don't miss
this excellent podcast featuring Chris Wilson, who discusses IE, Ajax and the W3C with John Udell. A must for anyone interested in browsers and standards as our living history, present, and future.