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CHAPTER ONE FUTUREPROOF SURVIVAL TECHNIQUES
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Ubiquitous and future-friendly layouts cannot be obtained by jumping onboard with
every new technique or technology as it arrives (as AJAX shows). No matter how popular
these buzzwords become, the name of the technique is never important; what matters is
the problem that the technology aims to solve and whether it, in fact, solves it. A great
example of this is the Web 1.0 to 3.0 movement.  e terms themselves have little mean-
ing except to try to “mark” the Web’s evolutionary progress. Yet, for all of its public appeal,
it solves nothing.
Note
What makes buzzwords extra confusing is that some of them have di erent
connotations, so they can mean di erent things to di erent people or in di erent
situations. Web 2.0, for example, isn’t just a defi ning era of the Web; it’s also a
highly recognized design trend.
Terms like Web 2.0 have come to mean di erent things to di erent people, and often just
stereotype sites as meeting a list of criteria that keeps them current.  e trouble is that
not all users will demand the same things and not all devices or browsers will be capable
of reliably implementing the proposed features, which, as such terms imply, are critical to
the evolution of the Web. In essence, not all sites require AJAX or collaboration features,
and including them could damage a user’s experience on your site.
I’ve established that AJAX can be problem for certain users and that Web 2.0 doesn’t o er
a  rm solution to help create or maintain a stable and usable site, so the next step is to
investigate what’s been dubbed the Mobile Web.  is term appeared when the use of hand-
held, non-desktop, web-enabled devices increased, which put pressure on designers to
make their sites mobile friendly. Unlike Web 2.0, this term makes some practical sense,
but the trouble begins when you try to de ne what actually constitutes a “mobile” device,
and trying to de ne mobile variables just creates more questions, including these:
> If mobile just equates to a small screen, aren’t laptops mobile?
> If mobile is about not being “desktop,” are 100-inch TVs mobile?
> If mobile is focused on the new wave of technology, what about PDAs?
> Perhaps mobile equates to data speed, so what about dialup users?
If your aim is to make a  exible and usable layout, all that matters is that users of such
devices can take advantage of your site. To achieve this goal, avoid stereotyping users’ needs
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