Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

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I came across a cool CSS/JavaScript-based technique for layering an image on top of the existing browser window — sort of like a pop-up window, but without the pop-up — called Lightbox JS. It’s deceptively simple, and, as used in the example, an intriguing way to display larger images in a photo gallery. (CSS Help Pile suggests that it might be worth looking into for confirmation screens and alert boxes on Web-based applications.)

I went to bookmark the site on del.icio.us, and among the “popular” tags (based on the keywords others have associated with the link) were “AJAX” and “Web 2.0.” This particular CSS/JavaScript technique? Nifty indeed, but, in itself, it’s not AJAX — no behind-the-scenes database calls here — and certainly not Web 2.0.

Which gets me on a side rant: What is Web 2.0 anyway? APIs and mash-ups? Social networking and user-generated content? It feels like any time something new and nifty comes out these days, it’s hailed as a new advance in Web 2.0, even if the label isn’t at all relevant.