On social media, we frequently see and hear about web 1.0, web 2.0, and web 3.0. In actual life, we (as web app designers or developers) hardly ever have in-depth discussions about web x.0. Actually, most of the time we talk about the tradeoffs between the architecture, stacks, user stories and requirements, timelines, issues, and so forth.
Web3
The decentralised data block is the cornerstone of Web3. observing the rise and fall of the Crypto & NFT trend. I have seen another intriguing trend/wave that has affected how we have worked over the past 2 years, particularly in the beginning and near the end of the pandemic.
Web2.5
In lieu of Web3, I would like to focus more on Web2.5. Web2.5 is about collaboration if decentralisation is the motto of Web3, at least in my opinion. Web2.5 held us together and kept our work coordinated.
Let’s start with the process of a web or app designer. Clients or stakeholders come to the designer with a wonderful concept, and the designer writes it down while their creative juices are still flowing before opening Ai or Photoshop to create the UI or mockup.
When the designer needs to share the graphic with the customer or stakeholder, this is when things get interesting. Some prefer to send the file using Wetransfer (email attachments can only carry 10MB), and the visual files typically come in GB. While others upload it to GDrive and Dropbox for inspection, approval, and feedback. Every time the visual was revised, the designer had to make changes, communicate them, and alert the client or stakeholder. Prior to the introduction of Figma, we had never noticed this as a problem. Figma makes it simple for designers to collaborate with others. The Figma tagline, “Nothing great is designed, developed, or made alone,” kind of speaks to me.
Service & Experience
Today we see lots of software, tool & service that support the mantra of collaboration. We have Figma for UIUX design & brainstorming, GDrive for Doc, Airtable for Spreadsheets, Canvas for social media assets & presentation, Github for code repo, Slack/Discord for team communication, Fig for team CLI, Kanban board for project tracking (more on https://medium.com/@shauntan8/how-did-kanban-make-the-team-me-progressive-a787bbd6df90), Postman for API, Password sharing for team or organisation, Arctype for SQL client, Notion for knowledgebase or doc.
Wrap up
Dopamine is released when others come up with excellent ideas, and we all work together to develop them. I’m a big supporter of collaborative work.
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