New on the scene - Mooglets. Yet another one of those JavaScript based online desktop web interface thingamajiggies. Add a Mooglet, customize it, move it around the window and then save. The design is nice and the transition effects give the interface loads of character. Very nicely handled. Intuitive. One of the best that I’ve seen.

However, despite its use of web standards, it doesn’t work in IE - not even IE7. And as much as I like it, it’s unlikely I’d actually ever use it. It would need to be developed a lot further to include widgets that are more useful than an analogue clock and google search bar to make it useful. But still I like what it is achieving, in htat it goes someway in helping to push the envelope of what can be achieved online.

I can see this type of interface being more successfully incorporated into a personal homepage on a company intranet, or as a dashboard on something like an online task management system. It would be a good way of letting the user organize information relevant to their work in a way that suits their work habits. The difference here is that these are both an addition to an system rather than the sole reason for the systems existence.

Just like the buzz that surrounded those magic eye pictures when they first appeared, the technology behind Mooglets (AJAX) currently has an air of magic and mystery about it. Rather than evaluating whether a situation would actually benefit from its use, AJAX is being used simply because it’s the new cool thing. It’s really still in its infancy - we’re at that stage in it’s development where we’re still trying to work out what we can do with it - and it needs time to develop; and until it has we need to put an equal amount of consideration into deciding what it should not be used for as we do for what it should be used for.
So predictably, we’re going to stumble across a few situations were its use hasn’t actually enhanced the user experience. This possibly is what Mooglets is, but I also believe that interfaces like Mooglets are an essential stepping stone to some bigger, better future use - what ever that may be.