Learning from The Web
Adam Bosworth,
ACM Queue,
Nov 07, 2005
I think this is a pretty important article, at least, the first half is, because of the advice it gives people who are trying to develop systems and standards. It repeats a mantra I have been known to utter on occasion: learn from the web. What, specifically? Well, things like this: "Simple, relaxed, sloppily extensible text formats and protocols often work better than complex and efficient binary ones." because they're easier to use, and when you want abillion people to use something, it needs to be easy. Or: "The wisdom of crowds works amazingly well. Successful systems on the Web are bottom-up. They don’t mandate much in a top-down way." Make it possible for people to do things, without telling them what to do, and they'll amaze you. Like the web. Via Tim Bray.
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