For years, one of the telltale signs of not getting it has been using Flash as a substitute for the Web. By delivering Flash over HTTP and extending browsers to run it, it's easy to overlook the fact that Flash is a competitor to the Web, not a proprietary part of it. (Being a competitor isn't a bad thing, but it is what it is.) Flash sites are dying, partly thanks to Apple, but a new bad practice is emerging.

Except it's not new. It's as if a bunch of people got together and decided that the problem with Flash sites is the technology, not the use of it. Everything I used to hate about Flash is back, this time in the form of JavaScript. Like Flash sites, there is a new breed of web apps that don't feel quite right. Maybe it's because they scroll like a supertanker. Maybe it's because the back button doesn't work right. Maybe it's because the browser tells you it's done, but you don't see any content. (I'm looking at you, Twitter.)

I'm primarily a server programmer, but I still end up doing UI work every once in a while, and that's been true for the majority of the last three weeks. Not being an experienced old hand at UI design, I find myself falling back on first principles and decade-old books. I'm mostly happy with the results, but the code that results in implementing the interface... well, it's not the kind of code that I like to write.