The second thing we have to mention, is that one fundamental truth of the web hasn’t changed at all since it was conceived: Content is King. The web is fundamentally a content delivery system. It doesn’t matter if you are reading a web page on a marketing site, checking out your friends status on Facebook or even streaming a movie from Netflix. The main star of the web is and has always been content.

So, why mention these 2 points and how does this help explain the web today?

We are gonna need a bigger boat arm!

The web is a great delivery system.  And now more than ever we have a multitude of devices and channels from which you can deliver your content to your consumers – expanding even more the reach of your message and your company’s online arms. That’s the first challenge of the web in 2011: The different sizes and different capabilities of all these web accessible devices. Dealing with so many new devices has created a new set of problems and the response to them is called “media queries“. You might have heard about flexible, responsive or adaptive designs. But no matter what technique you apply or what you call it, the beauty of this is you can design your site to fit the screen, and progressively enhance it to make sure it works with all the newest features that all the different browsers allow.

We at Album, for instance, are taking full advantage of media queries on a new site we are designing that has specific features available only for the iPad (This strategy pays off since we know our client’s franchisees will all have iPads, and we can target that specific audience and make their experience even better because of that).

The other thing that is just growing and making its way across the web is content strategy. Because if “Content is King”, content strategy is what can make or break a website. You need both a content strategy and a good understanding of the devices that are available today to be able to deliver your content to the largest audience possible.

And talking about reaching even more people, one of the key things that defines the web right now is the number of new channels available for you to deliver your content. Besides your website, your blog, your Facebook page (which more and more companies favor over their webpages) and Twitter accounts, there is now Google+ accounts (soon to open to businesses), Foursquare, Instagram, and many more. The size of these social channels is so massive right now, that most old media channels, like TV channels and newspapers, have incorporated some use of them. Making them an indispensable part of any content delivery strategy.

That’s it. The web right now is accessed from all sorts of devices, with different sizes, software, and resolutions, and it has more popular platforms and sites than ever. Where do we go from here? In our opinion the Post-PC era Internet will continue to move from your desktop to your pocket, and mobile devices will pretty soon overtake your living room and replace the way you watch consume TV (if it hasn’t done that already).

One of our intern’s favorite new information sources is, you guessed it, a twitter feed, that has been linked to some of the most knowledgeable, interesting, and successful people around. Smashing Magazine has been one of those reliable pals that unknowingly has made lots of Album employees thrilled to be in this industry, over and over again. They have posted the Album site as an example for different educational categories, such as the Speaking Navigation category in the Design Trends for 2009 article.

Now, this is a big deal for us. We put our blood, sweat, and tears into our work, and what kind of an example would we be for potential clients if our own site wasn’t worthy of praise?

Well, apparently it is. So much so that when Smashing Magazine published The Smashing Book, they included us in it. That’s right! Here we are on page 170:

This is in the “The Ultimate Guide to Fantastic Color Usage in Web Design, Usability, and Experience” section.

All we can say is: Go Team!

Fun Fact: As you may have noticed, the article mentioned earlier was called “Design Trends for 2009.” The site was launched in 2008. What does this mean? We are ahead of our time when it comes to what’s cool, what’s hot, what works, and what just looks good.

Don’t mind us if we toot our own horn every once in a while.

Enjoy these brilliant examples.  Since they asked, I answered:

Ah man, I don’t have any on me today.  When I do, I’ll let you know.

Actually, I do.  I’ve found that the ground is the best place to find it.

You mean, do I have a raft?  Or have I gone rafting before?  Oh, I’m sorry, you’d like to see my new rafting.  Yeah, I’ve got a rafting right here.

Hey, congrats!  I’m happy you “got video phone.” You’re really movin’ up in life.

Not anymore.  At least not for more abusive “got milk” examples.

• “No teenager that I know of regularly reads a newspaper, as most do not have the time and cannot be bothered to read pages and pages of text while they could watch the news summarized on the internet or on TV.
• “Teenagers never use real directories (hard copy catalogues such as yellow pages). This is because real directories contain listings for builders and florists, which are services that teenagers do not require”.
• “Most teenagers nowadays are not regular listeners to radio. They may occasionally tune in, but they do not try to listen to a program specifically. The main reason teenagers listen to the radio is for music, but now with online sites streaming music for free they do not bother, as services such as last.fm do this advert free, and users can choose the songs they want instead of listening to what the radio presenter/DJ chooses.”
• “Every teenager has some access to the internet, be it at school or home. Home use is mainly used for fun (such as social networking) whilst school (or library) use is for work. Most teenagers are heavily active on a combination of social networking sites. Facebook is the most common, with nearly everyone with an internet connection registered and visiting >4 times a week. Facebook is popular as one can interact with friends on a wide scale. On the other hand, teenagers do not use Twitter.”