Posts Tagged ‘technology’
HTML5 Things Worth Knowing – Part II
THE PRIORITY OF CONSTITUENCIES
One of the major components and original ideas behind HTML5 is the priority of constituencies construct. Very simply, the W3C characterizes it as:
In case of conflict, consider users over authors over implementors over specifiers over theoretical purity. In other words costs or difficulties to the user should be given more weight than costs to authors; which in turn should be given more weight than costs to implementors; which should be given more weight than costs to authors of the spec itself, which should be given more weight than those proposing changes for theoretical reasons alone. Of course, it is preferred to make things better for multiple constituencies at once.
This is essentially the opposite approach that the now defunct previous specification had taken. What it means is that the spec will not be driven by theoretical purity but by real-world experiences. I’ve been writing (mostly) theoretically pure markup since I began working on the Web and any Web developer should do this as a matter of principle rather than because the spec requires it. This allows the flexibility of HTML to be built-in rather than added on.
MOBILE WEB EXPERIENCES
While the majority of web browsing is still done mostly on PCs, the area of web browsing that is growing the fastest is in the mobile space. Smart phones and web enabled small screen devices have exploded in popularity. Part of what makes these devices effective is the lean approach they take to extend battery life and function with processor power that is more or less equivalent to the computers of nearly a decade ago. As such, the rich application experiences common to PC browsing requires computing and processing power that taxes battery life and drags in performance. HTML5 helps mitigate this issue by simplifying the technology to a basic standard that can be run within the browser without third party applications or plugins.
Indeed, in Steve Jobs open letter, addressing his company’s policy of not supporting Flash on portable apple devices such as the iPhone, iPod Touch, and the iPad, he directly highlights the power draining, processor intensive practices of Adobe’s Flash product.
While HTML5 may not have the urgency to deliver its power saving, processor lean aspects for PCs, the mobile space is crying out for this flexibility. Marketers and developers alike will find respite in HTML5 as it levels the playing field, giving them greater control and more universal access to creating truly cross platform browsing experiences.
AN OPEN STANDARD
While HTML5 as a fully approved spec will not take place for some time, this technology is uniquely poised to become a standard built upon the direct input of the community. In addition to the W3C and the group of browser developers and Internet evangelists from WHAT WG, the greater community of web developers and architect will influence the evolution of HTML5. If the endeavor proves successful, it will result in a technology of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Currently, there are many ways for you to get involved and learn more about HTML5:
- Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group
WHATWG is responsible for championing the HTML5 spec that was taken up by the W3C. - World Wide Web Consortium – HTML5 Overview
The W3C is in charge of reviewing and approving the final spec for HTML5. - HTML5 Doctor & HTML5 Demos
HTML5 Doctor and Remy Sharp’s HTML5 Demos have excellent demos, examples, and references.
BOTTOM LINE
While HTML5 is still very much an emerging technology, it is an important technology that has far reaching implications for everyone. For marketers, this is important since this will be the new digital medium through which customers interact with your products and services online. For developers, this is the chance to transcend the murky boundaries of the rich internet. For the rest of us, HTML5 is the promise of a new and exciting chapter of the Web. One in which we will experience new interactions that vary subtly from what we see today while others we have never seen before. For now, we should only seek to match our audience to our capabilities and use HTML5 as an effective tool toward better communication and interaction.
Building your Company’s Vision: Good To Great Part 5
By far, this blog post has been the hardest to write. To start, I went back to Jim Collins to see what he had to say on the subject. This tenant is one of the most complex in the Good To Great thinking.
“Put another way, the most enduring and successful corporations distinguish their timeless core values and enduring core purpose (which should never change) from their operating practices and business strategies (which should be changing constantly in response to a changing world).”
This concept immediately makes me return to my reference to Kodak in the post about Confronting the Brutal Facts.
To clarify what Kodak’s mission is, I looked in the history section of their website. I found this very clear message “make photography simpler, more useful and more enjoyable”.
Kodak has managed to preserve the core of their business, while undergoing technological changes. As the film industry continues to wither into nothingness, Kodak has jumped into the digital camera world. They have also extended into the online world with websites like Kodak Gallery that lets you print and share photo.
They have even forge relationship with local drug stores including CVS to you can order online and pick them up in the store. That is a model being used by several online e-commerce leaders.
What I have realized in searching for these stories is that there are more stories about companies that have ‘lost their way’ than about companies who got it right. There are a lot of companies that are just a flash in the technical pan.
In a hyperfinicky marketplace, technology companies need to stay on their toes, but they still need to keep their eye on the same spot of the horizon and keep moving toward it – no matter how far off it might seem.
Unscrewing the Light Bulb
I wrote my last post about a twitter-style team management tool. After I did that, I started thinking about the impact of using a tool or why you would need to use a tool like it – or any management tool for that matter.
Ultimately, I kept coming back to the same reason – the inability to communicate effectively across your team or with your clients. Since the speed of the online world often feels similar to Michael Phelps in the pool, it is often difficult to have complete communications.
So what is it that makes some technology tools so successful at companies and complete failures at others. First, we can examine the tool itself. Some people can be really successful with totally crappy tools (MySpace). However, many tools are accepted and used for their utter simplicity (Twitter).
How do you know the difference? Alertbox is a good place to start. Jakob Nielsen just wrote a great article about the 10 Best Application UIs.
I am getting off track. What makes a tool successful – really? For me, it kept coming back to culture. That word can be interpreted many different ways, but for the sake of this argument, I am talking about Corporate culture. It sometimes is not really about the tool, but the reason your company went to seek it out in the first place.
Do you work for the type of organization where people are trained to communicate and an emphasis is placed on mastering that? Do you work for the type of company where finger pointing happens from the top down? I think you can guess which company is going to be more successful at leveraging communication tools.
If you work for a company where the management expects process to be followed, yet unscrews the light bulb and keeps the ranks in the dark, it is going to be nearly impossible to have constructive growth, create a positive work environment or keep talented staff.
So is this something that we think about at Optiem? Well, you be the judge because it is a panel we suggested for SXSW.
More importantly, what do you think about it?
Collaborative Tech conference in Cleveland
Tomorrow I’m off to CollabTech’08 – a conference being held at CASE about collaborative technologies on campus. It promises to have talks about the very things I’ve been mentioning on this blog; OpenID, 2D Codes, Wikis & blogs.
All this in my own backyard.
So if you’re going, be sure to say “Hi”. If you can’t make it I’ll be twittering (#collabtech08) and perhaps sharing stuff on Evernote, WiFi permitting.
Technorati tags: collabtech, conference, cleveland, case, technology, #collabtech08