Flickr

Flickr is usually traded as one of the signposts towards Web 2.0. And there's nothing to disagree with, since Web 2.0 is defined through examples like Flickr and GMail and Google Maps and so on.

Having played around with flickr for some time now, I have to admit its one of the best applications (or probably better: services) on the Web.

• It serves a clear purpose, and (more important) does this perfectly
• it is driven by its users resp. the community (uploading, comments, tagging, groups, ...)
  
• it interoperates with various other services (e.g. blogging interface to all major blogging sites/types)
• it offers its own services to other services
• its user interface is just perfect, and I'm not (only) talking about its dynamic AJAX style, but also the way they guide a user and how you do configure your settings; they don't confront the user with tech terms, but mainly ask questions.
  
  

Take a look at their account settings page here... and compare this to other settings/preferences dialogs.


So, yes, flickr is pretty cool; if the web is really heading that way, I'll be glad to follow.