Web 2.0: which usability issues?

Abstract

In this article we consider the aptitude of web 2.0 for adapting to physical and psychological features of the users, keeping as a measure of the quality of the user/web 2.0 interaction the web 2.0 usability. Currently the web 2.0 is the new reality of Internet and mirrors how users’ needs are changed in the last decade. The possibility to share online resources by RSS technology, blogs, wiki and podcast has aroused a general enthusiasm and a new generation of sites, applications and online tools has been developed in the web 2.0 environment. However AJAX, rich Internet UIs, mashups,communities, and user-generated contents often add more complexity than they’re worth (Nielsen, 2007), to the detriment of the usability, that is hindered by frequent violations of the most common and basic rules of web design (Nielsen, 2005). We hypothesized that the natural evolution of web 2.0 should follow criteria resembling those observed during the development of traditional web as focused on the implementation of interfaces characterized by the ease of use.

Keywords

• usability
• web 2.0
• usability guidelines
• usability testing