Are you always the last know about what’s going on? Do you hanker
after some inside knowledge on what’s going to be ‘cool’? Well have
no fear – Web Designer introduces its inaugural Hot 100 countdown
of what will make it big in 2008… Read on and get in the know!
eCommerce everywhere
Instead of
wandering between web shops and using
multiple shopping carts, wouldn’t it be easier to just have
the one? Don’t be surprised to find that your favourite
browser will get its very own personal trolley that follows
you between sites and even hands over your money when
time to pay. If it’s safer, then we like it already!
19
Danilo Rodrigues
This 22-year old from
Brazil is a student of Multimedia Design and has
happily taken his eclectic visual style from illustration to
the web. His flyer-like compositions featuring collages of
photography has found favour with dance-culture
marketing and clients such as Creamfields Brazil, Lo Kik
Records and Wired Music. One to watch
18
D&AD Student Awards
With entries still
accepted until 20 March, the D&AD Student
Awards or ‘Yellow Pencils’ are renowned for being a great
foothold into a creative career. Winners and finalists from
collages or universities worldwide will be announced in
June, across disciplines of illustration, photography, viral
design and animation.
17
Seam Carving
This is specifically a new
image-editing technique that wowed the crowds
at Adobe MAX Europe 2007. Sure to hit Photoshop CS4, it
uses relatively simple algorithms to completely erase
objects with just a few clicks.
16
CoCoMo
Not to be confused with the
Software Cost Estimation Model by Barry Boehm,
this is actually a new Adobe Connect web-conferencing
framework. It basically allows developers to place Connect
interface objects or components into Flex applications.
15
Pacifica
Pacifica is essentially a service that
allows developers to integrate voice, messaging
and user-presence information into Flex or AIR
applications. At MAX Europe 2007, it was used to make
instant mobile phone calls to contacts listed in Adobe’s
staff directory system.
14
Papervision3D
We’ve already covered this
open source 3D engine for Flash in last month’s
issue, and it’s sure to be something to return to. Some of
the work that the team behind it have managed,
particularly Carlos Ulloa, blew us away at MAX Europe and
is sure to inspire similar mainstream efforts very soon.
13
101 Web Design Show
Podcasting is
huge right now, and there are people out there
keen to create audio shows on just about anything. Jin and
Earl are just two design fanatics who happily record their
creative musings and post them at
www.101webdesignshow.com for all to hear – give it a
listen when you next get the chance.
12
Death of spam
Yes that’s right, no more
random emails offering you Viagra – or at least no
more you’ve not signed up for! We see the ISPs leading the
fight to kill off all superfluous bandwidth sapping activities
as competition for top speeds hots up. It mightn’t be gone
forever in 2008, but we’re certainly heading that way.
11
Rise of Linux
This open source OS has been
a favourite of developers and corporate cynics for
some time, but could be set to see its niche widen
somewhat. With ‘flavours’ such as Ubuntu making it look
more pretty and a new wave of thin client devices hitting
the market, we should see Linux break out of the darkened
bedroom in 2008.
10
Web Design eMag
Perhaps the most
hotly anticipated product that 2008 will offer up
will be with us in days rather than months. Yes, a fully
searchable digital version of every Web Designer issue since
116 is to be launched in February, with PDFs and project
files for all those unmissable tutorials
09
Collaborate coding
With online
content becoming much more sophisticated, the
days of the lone web designer or developer are numbered.
Unless you’re a multi-skilled mutant with multiple hands,
you’ll probably have to concede that the way forward is
togetherness. Expect to have to make talented friends and
widen your workforce in 2008.
08
H20 Fibre Broadband
In September one
lucky UK town from Bournemouth, Northampton,
or Dundee will become a ‘fibre town’ – offering wired
broadband services of around 100 Mbps. H20’s plans to lay
the cabling through sewers will compete with established
services such as Virgin Media and will attempt to bring UK
provisions literally up to speed.
07
An Event Apart – New Orleans
This
unique two-day session arguably brings together
12 of the most influential web design authors for nearly 20
hours of practical learning. Expect to meet and be
captivated by top guys in the industry like Andy Clarke,
Dave Shea, Eric Meyer and Jeffrey Zeldman, as well as
Google’s design manager Jeff Veen.
06
Scalable Inman Flash Replacement (sIFR)
This open source JavaScript and Flashbased
technology was pioneered by CSS expert Shaun
Inman, and basically enables the replacement of text
elements on HTML web pages with Flash alternatives.
Headers and pullquotes within copy can be styled in any
embedded font wanted without requiring a version on the
end user’s system.
05
Color Management (book)
Rotovision’s latest title is a comprehensive guide
for designers spanning print, interactive or web. The same
rules still apply regarding colour theory and the
psychology behind human perception, and this CDaccompanied
book uses vibrant real world examples to
great effect.
04
Flex Builder 3
The third beta version has
just hit Adobe Labs and for anyone who doesn’t
know it yet, there are plenty of powerful new features.
Native support for AIR is a given along with CS3
integration, but developers can also shrink applications
down to sizes of 50k and utilise a new Advanced DataGrid
component - sure to please fans.
03
Vintage web styles
So much of what is
fashionable is, in fact, a recycling of what was
stylish many moons ago, and this is precisely where the
vintage web design look comes from. Sites like www.
visitcascadia.com and old favourite www.lanalandis.com
draw on imagery and ephemera from the Forties and
Fifties to create a cool modern take on kitsch graphical
styles. Dig old your old cigarette cards we say!
02
Photophlow
Designed by a handful of
developers known as Oortle and still in limited
beta, this new web application lets Flickr users share their
photos in real-time within a dynamic chatroom
environment. Photographers can interact via APIs from
Flickr, Twitter, Tumbir and connect to an instant messaging
client of choice.
01
Hosting Redefined
In such a saturated and competitive market,
hosting companies will be forced to evaluate their product
strategy. Reseller accounts are already the talk of the
trade, but expect to see bundled site solutions, templates,
software and other incentives thrown into the mix.
Taking a leaf out of Media Temple’s book wouldn’t go
amiss either!
“A desire of mine
for 2008 is the
advancement of hosted
website builders. For
the many millions who
use these for smaller
website projects, there is much potential
to make them more powerful, intuitive,
automated and customisable. I hope to
see more sophisticated, traditionally
software-driven features trickle down
to consumer level hosted web-building
tools. New launches in this area would be
exciting because they could transform
web design for a lot of businesses and amateur web designers"
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