Description:

There has never been a widely agreed upon UI standard for web-based applications. As a result, web designers have been free to pick and choose ideas from different places. With the growth of new platforms and new devices this trend has only increased, leading to situations where mobile sites that look like iPhone apps are being used on Android devices. So what should our web-based UIs look like? Do we try to create a unified language or just embrace the chaos? Is there a reasonable middle ground?

This talk will give a critical overview of the current state of UI design on the web. Chad will show how web-based UIs have incorporated elements from desktop applications, mobile applications, and real world interfaces and what this means for the users of these sites. We'll review efforts that have been made to build UI frameworks on the web, and whether this strategy is worth pursuing. By the time we're done, we should have a better understanding of how to build better, more rational UIs on the web.