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+Usability guru Jakob Nielsen believes that web 2.0 is in danger of becoming "glossy but useless." Nielsen, whose usability guidelines have, for many designers, long been the bible of web interface development, believes that in the rush to embrace new technologies like Ajax, designers have abandoned the well worn principles of usable sites.
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+Nielsen [tells the BBC][1] that, "most people just want to get in, get it and get out... for them the web is not a goal in itself. It is a tool."
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+And Nielsen believes that many web 2.0 sites have abandoned the design principles that allow average, non-tech-savvy users to easily do what they want.
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+Although Nielsen doesn't give the BBC any specific examples, it seems reasonable to assume that he's opposed to Ajax heavy sites that often break the back button, something that has long been Nielsen's chief critique of non-HTML technologies.
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+While some the Nielsen's critiques are probably valid, I can't help wondering if perhaps as the web has matured over the years, users are perhaps more sophisticated than Nielsen thinks.
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+In an [interview last year with Sitepoint][2], Nielsen says, "it's important to remember that most web sites are not used repeatedly. Usually, users will visit a given page only once." 
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+But isn't web 2.0 about community sites that receive repeat traffic from users who are active members? 
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+Even taking into account the 80/20 rule (80% of the community are typically lurkers, 20% contribute) that's still a significant portion of the audience that are going to value features over usability.
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+Take, for instance, Digg. The vast majority of Digg users are like myself, headline scanners that interact mainly through an RSS reader and rarely even visit the site. 
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+But if Digg were to optimize for usability and stop rolling out new features (like the [recent API for instance][3]) the site would inevitably alienate the hard core users who contribute the content.
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+If those users move on, then there's little reason for the lurkers to remain and pretty soon what Kevin Rose would be left with is a really well designed, highly usable site that no cares about.
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+I don't disagree with Nielsen that usability is important, but with web 2.0 community site in particular I think Nielsen is clinging to set of rigid standards that aren't taking into account the changes in how users interact with the web. 
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+Of course in an ideal world, users would get both -- new features that adhered to sound usability principles, but while web 2.0 is many things, ideal it is not.
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+[1]: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6653119.stm "Web 2.0 'neglecting good design'"
+[2]: http://www.sitepoint.com/article/interview-jakob-nielsen "Interview with Jakob Nielsen"
+[3]: http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/04/new_digg_api_me.html "New Digg API Means More Mashups"
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