The wave of Web 2.0

Hi, firstly just a warning, this is a really boring entry and probably a but techy with no funny news in it, so possibly switch off now.

Today I have been looking a little more at this adding links to towns, but as with all our work I am trying to take the opportunity to improve on what we have already done (sadly this is the bit I find interesting). In IT it has been the buzz for a while to look at Web 2.0, I have to admit I have never really been that clear on what it really means, but that doesn't stop me trying to do it. So with Pubs Galore we are trying to make sure it is as good as we can make it, I sadly doubt it will ever be a Facebook site (sadly because I would love all that money), but we can try and embrace the changes this sort of site has bought to the way you do your work.

Anyway to our links, today I have been trying to learn a little more about what you can do using AJAX (wikipedia link), which to be honest these days is pretty much another word for JavaScript. What I am trying to do though is make it that you can add a link to a City and have it waiting there for approval without the page ever reloading. If you add a link to a pub you will have to go through 2 reloads, 1 as you switch the page to accept edits, then another as you send all that edited information to us. The current vogue is to cut back on this. It does have its drawbacks though, sites tend to go slower when they have more of this fancy stuff, and also can be hard to get working on older machines. With this in mind it is always a worry pushing forwards, but I do think that Pubs Galore is all about a rich experience, with lots of pictures, maps and information constantly linking, so it will never be the quickest site but hopefully one day the best.

Let me know if you think Pubs Galore is getting any of this wrong.