Posted on Jan 12, 2007, 3:48 am by chris
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Is nextBBS a Web 2.0 application?
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This is the second installment in our series "What makes nextBBS so special?"
Portals Magazine reports that nextBBS is in the top 10 SourceForge Web 2.0 applications.
But is nextBBS really a Web 2.0 application?
The answer is not very complex but not simplistic either: nextBBS could be thought of as a "Web 1.9" or "Web 2.1" application depending on your views. Allow me to explain.
Oftentimes, people see a "Web 2" label and think bells and whistles: In-place edits, dynamically updated information, etc.
Even though nextBBS offers such features, it's the "other" Web 2 we are interested in: the
community dimension.
nextBBS is a community building tool and the more you use it the more you come to realize how deeply hybrid it is: standing at the crossing of Forums, Wikis and Blogs, it remains tightly focused on communication and sharing. Modules allow users to create drawing tutorials or integrate with existing social networks seamlessly and more importantly, as is the rule with this software, non-intrusively.
nextBBS is not "in your face". What we think of as "Web 2 spectacular" is here, indeed, but every AJAX call, every page manipulation is the result of the developers' careful deliberations. The goal is to leverage these feature to make the visitor's time more enjoyable, rather than putting an aggressive display of technical prowess.
In conclusion, yes, I believe that nextBBS is a genuine Web 2.0 application, in a user-conscious way. And it is my belief that with web applications this should be the only way.