Placing the Web Usability Bar

I've already mentioned Joel Spolsky's 'Google Suggest raises the bar for web UIs' essay, and I'm just one small voice in the great blog chorus.

What I'd not noticed though, is that Flickr had already raised the bar far further, and with far less popular fanfare.

Flickr's your photos page (here's mine) uses the XMLHttpRequest technique for actual, practical purposes. When logged into Flickr, you can click on any photo's title or description and edit it inline in the page and submit your change without any tedious page reloading.

The effect is quite amazing. In terms of enhancing web usability it's a far greater advance than Google's glitzy but not ever so useful showcase.

I would imagine that in eighteen months time we'll all be doing it.

Or at least I hope so.