site design

Dion Hinchcliffe's Web 2.0 Blog is the closest I have come so far to reading a definitive site on the subject of this new web application design philosophy known as Web 2.0. The days of static web pages with links and buttons is being overtaken by pages that come alive kinda like the programs we began using before the web emerged, but in a new massively connected way not possible before it did.

Even though Microsoft is finally getting around to releasing a version seven of their Internet Explorer browser, most of the recent innovation has been taking place with the freely downloadable Firefox browser. The main feature Firefox brought to the mainstream and that IE7 will be offering is tabbed browsing. With a tabbed browser, you can open new browser "windows" in the same window but with the page title appearing in a tab instead of the window title bar. This makes it really practical to switch between multiple web pages simultaneously without spending all your time finding the right window on your task bar.

Beyond tabbed browsing, Firefox has captured a significant share of the browser market by offering programmers the ability to extend its functionality through add-ins they call Extensions.

Here are some of my favorite Firefox Extensions and why:

For people who aren't ready for serious web design work but need a flexible and useful place to edit web pages without knowing HTML, the NVU (prnounced n-view) web editor is the ticket. You can't go wrong with this free tool, and you can run it on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Read what some others say, then start to use it yourself!

This site is built using Drupal, a powerful, flexible, and free system aptly described in this discussion as a web content management system toolkit. Architecturally sound, highly flexible, well-supported, and accompanied by a rich collection of available modules, you can do just about anything with it!

I'll never fly to Australia to participate in a conference on Web Technology, but I might download mp3 recordings of the sessions! I think this podcasting concept is pretty cool one!