It’s easy for us web design folk to forget that to most users, half of what we say is gibberish. Apparently many people can only recall one brand name at a time. So “How do you surf the web?” becomes anything from search engine (Google), to browser (the big blue E), to service provider (AOL), to operating system (Windows). If they remember the name “Google” first, then the whole computer or phone or iPad becomes “Google”.

Remember, we’re not here to snark at those who don’t know as much as we do (quick, what brand of alternator is in your cars engine?), but to inspire developers to work to help users more.

Take a deep breath and check out mute.co.

Things these kinds of clients always tell you:

• “I have a great idea.”
• “This will be good for your portfolio.”
• “When the business takes off, we’ll give you a cut.”
• “It has to integrate with Twitter, Google+, Facebook, Digg, YouTube, Yahoo, and everything.”
• “It has to be a multimedia Web 2.0 experience.”
• “We need it by tomorrow.”
• “Should be no problem for somebody who knows what they’re doing.”

Panda is the update that got everybody’s attention recently (it’s getting so bad, we’re wondering whether people remember they’re not talking about actual panda bears anymore), but how many of you knew about “Big Daddy”, “Mayday”, “Jagger”, “Bourbon”, “Florida”, and “Esmerelda”?

If you note what each update has done, you’ll notice that there is ever so much more to SEO than loading a page with keywords. When you overcome things like high bounce rates, you’re venturing out of the realm of technology altogether and getting into the psychology of users. Now, that’s a subject we don’t see nearly enough ink devoted to.

Our bets on what will pan out:

• Ultrabooks – Hot! They’re just the next generation of laptops, after all.
• Windows 8 – Let’s see, is Windows still relevant? Yeah, for a while. Hot!
• 4K TV – Snoo-o-o-ore! Look, bigger, bustier TVs are just for rich wanks to show off. Nobody else really cares. We still like our black-and-white model with the knobs and rabbit-ears we got in 1955. Buying a $4000 unit doesn’t make the shows any better.
• 3D – Snore. 3D just isn’t here yet. It’s like the flying car from Blade Runner.
• Ice Cream Sandwich – Hot! Brilliant name, that.
• Digital cameras – Ah, yeah, they’re very nice. Sorta hot, but where else can it go now?
• Video content – Hot, but we agree that industry needs to get off the fence and make it more available. Naive international content barriers don’t help.

SOPA and its sister law Protect-IP are two laws American government is seeking to pass to enable the blocking of international content wherever it is deemed to infringe on copyright. What this means for the rest of us, is that it could hurt revenue streams going into and out of the US. But inside the US, it’s getting massive outcries and panic that seems disproportionate to its impact. In any case, Microsoft, Apple, and Google have all spoken out against SOPA, so it probably doesn’t have a chance unless the American government are complete idiots.

Cross your fingers…

Now, a lot of you are saying “What’s the big idea? We can install a whole stack of search engine extensions right from the Firefox website!” Yes, sure, and you can download a Firefox install as soon as you plug in a brand-new Windows computer – but most users don’t.

You’d be very surprised! If it comes there by default, that’s what people use. We swear, we’ve seen users who had both Google and Wikipedia on tap from the search bar use Google to find Wikipedia, then the search box on Wikipedia to find what they wanted. Heedless of the little arrow that allows you to switch.

But this is without a doubt one not to miss. HTML5 is sweeping the Internet. Both the desktop and mobile platforms are looking at the day when they need to upgrade their website code base to be up to date with the current web technologies. While it’s of course true that old websites will still function in HTML 4.1 and XHTML, web owners will want to stay competitive. And adoption is happening with surprising speed.

YouTube
Why HTML5 O’Reilly Breakdowns?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vErRfUFKn98

OpenGL and 3D in HTML5: an O’Reilly Breakdown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSBbtAxK41s&feature=relmfu

It’s shocking because Google only launched their browser three short years ago. It’s doubly astounding when you consider that Firefox descended from Mozilla, which descended from Netscape… It’s a tried-and-true code base that’s had a long time to ripen, whereas Google just whipped Chrome out from scratch (naturally built on top of KDE’s GPL-licensed KHTML layout engine, of course).

Nevertheless, we couldn’t agree more that it’s high time we had more players on the web browser field. Since they’re both open source browsers and both free of charge, it doesn’t really matter who wins because the web audience of users win no matter what. But web developers and website maintainers can no longer afford to disregard Chrome when testing for web compatibility.

The trouble with Google is, they really seem afraid to go all the way with anything. You’ve noticed the line of obsolete technologies back there – Answers, Desktop, Gears, Jaiku, Squared, Buzz, Wave… it’s getting where we’re afraid to blog about a new Google product for fear of wasting the bandwidth.

So this story comes along about Google+ integrating with Blogger, and we’re skeptical, and a little disappointed. At least Blogger is one of the long-term properties Google has made a go of.

But what else could they have done with Google+? Why couldn’t they have made a combination platform out of all of their tools and toys at once? Why not open Google+ to commercial users? Why not offer Gadgets in the sidebar? How about just dumping your blog right into your Google+ page? Right now, Google+ is just about the best place on the web to hear crickets chirping, and that’s it. Nobody’s there, nobody uses it, and there’s nothing to do.

Come on, Google, quit teasing us! Either shoot for the heavens or rest on your laurels.