Web designers walk fine line between form and function
Search engine algorithms and accessibility guidelines seem to have an increasing influence on Internet design trends. Recently, everyone seems to be in a rush to enable World 2.0 simply because it's more efficient for robots. But placing more emphasis on keyword targeted content and dynamic frameworks, and less on informative writing and intuitive design is not improving the overall human user experience. There's no shortage of template driven websites, which have grown out of control; filled to bursting with unoriginal, "relevant content", scattered navigation, sponsored links and misleading titles.
Most designers remember the days of plug-and-won't-play, where incompatibility came standard - and those days are not often missed. With the evolution of scripting libraries like jQuery and AJAX, design no longer needs to be a painful compromise between form and function. But as the creators and propagators of trends, it is the responsibility of designers to use these tools consciously and in moderation. Recall the pervasive misuse of Flash 10 years ago?
The evolving semantic web concept is creating possibilities in communicative design that were practically science fiction just a few years ago. And while accessibility may be the new buzz-word, a user experience is not that same for people as it is for a robot. Naturally, there will always be the good, the bad and the unoptimized, but by keeping the human audience in mind and designing with intent, perhaps the standards of web aesthetics can be raised.