Matt Waterworth

Does the future of the operating system lie on the internet? It's very possible judging by how well YouOs.com is executed. It mimics a window system through a lightweight javascript library which has to be seen to be believed.

Whilst it seems to be a proof of concept more than anything else, I'm sure this will pave the way for more sophisticated web based operating systems in the near future.

Of course the whole idea of web based operating systems brings with it the question of privacy and the future capacity of distributed computing which is entirely another issue altogether!

Controlthemovie.com is the official website of the new Ian Curtis biopic 'Control'. Unfortunately, like most movie preview websites it exhibits a beautiful, technically-accomplished front-end, dogged by a poorly thought out site architecture.

Firstly the website loads with a splash page, which inhibits access to the crux of the content. For some reason the trailer is embedded on this page and starts automatically which will likely infuriate many users. Why couldn't they have linked to a separate trailer page?

Instead of labelling the splash skip link "Skip" they've opted for a 'Begin Site Transmission' button instead. I realise that this ties in thematically with the movie (Transmission is one of Joy Division's most popular songs) but to a first time user it's just confusing. This lazy stab at congruency between site and film detracts from the site's otherwise compelling design.

The main navigation is comprised of a horizontally scrolling wave with each part of the site appearing somewhere along it. In order to find the appropriate section, you must scroll from side to side until the correct page title appears in the pink box. It's confusing, irritating and a perfect example of why mystery meat navigation should be loaded into a shopping trolley and wheeled into the Lagan.

Is it coincidental that I feel like I'd lost Control when I use this website? I'd be better off asking Corbijn myself...

TryRuby is a 'hands-on tutorial' for Ruby, which offers you the opportunity to program interactively in the language via a web-based interface. The helpful onscreen instructions are especially useful for people with no previous programming experience and will no doubt convince more people to convert to Ruby.

Whilst it covers all of the language's basics including selection and iteration techniques, it doesn't offer any material on the Rails framework, Ruby's killer-app.

With that said I was very impressed with the implementation of the GUI. At first glance I thought it must have been made with Flash however upon closer inspection I realised it relies on Ajax to send the command you enter to the Ruby interpreter, which is then executed, with the response appearing on the interface.

Are you tired of failing to achieve your goals? Then 43things.com might help where a hearty boot up the arse can't. 43things.com allows its userbase to specify and share their goals with one another through an interface dominated by a tag cloud.

It's inspiring to read about other peoples attempts to achieve the same goals you've set yourself and with such a large userbase nearly almost 'thing' is covered.

One minor criticism lies with the analogous colour scheme. I can't help but think that the layout is lacking the wow factor. The design might work better with a complimentary or a split complimentary colour scheme to add more contrast to the design. On the same note they might want to experiment with resizing the header fonts for the same effect.

What do you get if you couple an amazing idea with a stunning implementation of that very idea? Last.fm of course! Last.fm is a Media Player plugin based service, which records what music you listen to and shares it with the world. Its plugin is supported by a myriad of different players including Windows Media Player, iTunes and Winamp, meaning almost anyone can broadcast their vile taste in music to the world.

The compatibility feature, which compares your musical taste with another members is extremely well implemented. It compiles a list of the bands that you've both been listening to and provides a clever 'Compatibility Rating' based upon how many mutual artists you share.

Aesthetically speaking, the site implements a monochoromatic colour scheme offsetting a light red against various shades of gray. Sounds boring doesn't it? Well surprisingly it isn't, thanks to the variation in the size and spacing of the typography.