Most of what is being produced even by the best Web designers right now is not useful, said EffectiveUI President Anthony Franco in his morning keynote at the 5th International AJAXWorld Conference & Expo in New York City last month.

View AJAXWorld Keynote on SYS-CON.TV: "The Business Value of RIAs"

Displaying a Starbucks Coffee site that he called "awful" and a Target.com site that he called "not navigable," Franco recounted how his hunt for bad experiences - sites not talking to their customers - led him to the conclusion that companies are in love with "shiny objects" rather than actual useful and engaging online experiences.

Audience at AJAXWorld 2008 East listening intently to Day Two Keynote

"Respecting the emotive element of an application is important," said Franco. The "simplicity mantra" (simplicity, simplicity, simplicity) is over-rated. Not everything we do today can or should be simple.

"The iPhone is not simple. It is probably one of the most sophisticated devices ever built. But it is engaging."

"RIAs enable engaging experiences," Franco continued. "That's what Web 2.0 should be all about, not just novelty. AJAX is good, but it is not good enough. Developers need to listen to their customers and the mantra should be use the right tool for the job. Flash is not always bad, Microsoft does not always suck: designers and developers need to collaborate, product managers need to figure things out along the way..."

View AJAXWorld Keynote on SYS-CON.TV: "The Business Value of RIAs"

Franco's keynote was just one of the 90+ sessions, presentations, discussion panels, and keynotes that together made up the 3-day conference program of the 5th International AJAXWorld.