Rob Goodlatte

Let’s stop talking in buzzwords and start talking concretely.
Let’s make appropriate design decisions instead of trendy ones.
Let’s build products for people outside of our own networking spheres.
Let’s have open and interesting conversations, and exclude those who threaten or disrupt us.
Let’s stop trying to make money through deception and selling out.

A concerned friend,
Rob

1. Matt April 14th at 9:51 am

   I totally agree.
   The main thing that irritates me about “the new web” (I refuse to call it Web 2.0) is all the pointless trends and the amount of “copy-cat” sites that exit (I mean, you just see so many sites that are blatant copies of YouTube, for example).
   What the creators of these don’t understand is that the secret to web success is not to follow trends or to copy other ideas, it’s to innovate. It’s quite logical really. There’s no point attempting to leech off the momentum of the current fads, rather, focus should be made on developing unique ideas.

2. Alistair April 14th at 2:57 pm

   Agreeing with you, subtlety and simplicity has been lost.

   We all need to take that step back.

3. Anon. Coward April 14th at 5:49 pm

   “Dear Rob Goodlatte,

   Let’s stop advertising that we have an accessible website.

   Let’s make accessibility something that we do, not something that we consider “going out of our way.”

   Let’s stop using flash to display…headings when an H1/2/3 tag will do!

   Let’s stop trying to call for changes that you yourself aren’t willing to make.

   Let’s continue creating incredibly attractive, accessible blog layouts that inspire.”

   I’m just kidding (except on the last point)—excellent post!

   (PS: Although I do still wonder—why flash for post titles?!)

4. April 14th at 9:10 pm

   Anon. Coward—touché.

   I use sIFR (flash replacement) for headlines to allow me to use fonts I normally would be unable to use. The underlying HTML still uses h1/h2/h3, etc—the flash is inserted on page load by javascript. Check it out here: http://wiki.novemberborn.net/sifr/

5. A Simple Request - fuse April 17th at 12:04 pm

   [...] Web 2.0 has given “the people” a new type of power to govern what they see, watch, and read, and when they do it. With this, however, has emerged a buzzword-ridden, ill-defined landscape. A few days ago, Rob Goodlatte wrote a little note to the web: Dear World Wide Web, [...]