What's fascinating is that these alternative UIs are not just for output, but also for input. Imagine using your fax machine to post an image on the Web. A really smart design will always default gracefully to an appropriate least-common denominator. The separation of content from display is one of the most powerful and useful constructs of the Web, but it does add another layer of complexity to the design problem. Web designers must learn to design for a medium that is in a state of constant change.
Technologies generally diverge and specialize rather than converge.
Right now we are using HTML and HTTP to do things that it was never intended to do. They just happen to currently use the Web as their primary delivery mechanism, but we are all looking forward to a more diverse and richer set of ways to reach people, of which the Web is but one. All rights reserved. Terms of use .