The BBC has a great article by Jakob Nielsen about what is going wrong with the Web 2.0 craze.

Nielsen states that the hype about Web 2.0 has caused design firms to neglect good design. Their rush to add dynamic features and needless tools render sites “glossy but useless.”

Nothing could sum-up the redesign earlier this year by USAToday any better. USAToday is a news site. Often labeled McNews, its main purpose is to deliver information to readers.

Someone at a design firm must have convinced the editors that they needed to create a community feel. The words, “It’s all about Web 2.0. Don’t get left behind! It’s the next wave!” were surely used. But what the hell does it have to do with news?

Nothing.

But look what you get!

What are the benefits of membership?
As a USATODAY.com member, you can participate in the nation’s conversation by contributing your own comments and reviews throughout the entire USATODAY.com site. Interact with our expert journalists, your input will guide the conversation. Connect with other readers on the site. Create your own blog. Upload photos. Find and interact with people like you.

I ask again, what the hell does that have to do with the news?

There are a million places online to start a free blog. How many people will call USAToday their blog home? Neilson states that research has found that only 10% of users contribute to a site. In other words, 90% of USAToday readers will not blog, upload photos, or do anything other than read the news.

“Most people just want to get in, get it and get out,” said Mr Nielsen. “For them the web is not a goal in itself. It is a tool.”

USAToday is now pure bloat. Their front page requires 23 javascript calls. A hand-full is understandable, but TWENTY-THREE? To deliver the news? Most aren’t for the news though, but to facilitate the “benefits” of membership. You know, those blogs that at least 90% of the readers will never use. Therefore, USAToday subjects 90% of its readers to slow page loads, bloat, and browser crashing instability in order to provide something that none of them want. How nice.

Web firms rushing to serve the small, committed minority might find they make a site far less useful to the vast majority who come to a site for a specific purpose.

Truer words have never been spoken.