Could one ever really exist? I mean, this is the internet. It’s worldwide! Anyone and their brother could get the simplest website off the ground if they wanted to. With that at stake, we as designers hold the standard that in order to make ourselves worthwhile and of value to your clients, we must excel at our trade and rise above the templates! Could Google have more in mind though?
Google no doubt has become a part (and for some a large part) of our daily lives. Whether it be our search engine of choice or our home page, for some it could be our email, im, atlas, and coffee maker (perhaps not yet…but just you wait!). As I was discussing with a colleague, we were talking about some of the Google applets that are offered, and the point came up that Google no doubt has taken off. The snowball is rolling down the mountain, how much snow will it pick up along the way and what stretch of our lives will Google make easier for us next? That’s just the thing! Google’s applets tend to be quite easy to use, quick in loading, and convienient for our quick need of information. When is this movie playing around me? Punch it in Google. How did my stock do today? Google knows. How long am I going to be in the car and where is the closest taxi? The answers are quickly found with a Google click.
As developers though, Google also has also made some of our lives easier. With each applet that Google comes up with, API’s have also been developed for easy integration to your website. Whether it be the simple adding of a Google search or map, or even as far as your complete checkout system, Google has the tools readily available. Not just that though, it’s FREE! How can we say no? However, the question we must ask ourselves is whether we are signing and sealing our own grave. At what point will Google stop, if ever? Will it be that someday Google will have it’s finger of code on every website? On one hand, why reinvent the wheel? On the other, let’s be creative! Free vs. man/billable hours. A system people already know how to use vs. a proprietary system. Coming from a fellow designer, we are in between a rock and a hard place. Truly there will always be the need for custom designs and uniqueness, however with Google taking over the rest of pie, how do we stop this train?
Are there any answers? Do we admit that Google is here to stay and adopt them into our designs, or do we instead forge ahead as unique designers and programmers and rely not on Google applets? The choice is yours, but it sure is hard to think of the internet these days without Google.com.
This content will be shown after all post