BankSimple's attempt to build a better bank intrigues me. But I do wonder if the innovative new banking frontend they announced will be a Web 2.0ish affair with lots of modal dialogs and spinner wheels. Because I don't want AJAX in my online banking.

Not too long ago, the form oriented, Web 1.0 approach to application design was lauded as one of the reasons why software was moving from the desktop to the web. Web 1.0 applications had to play by a strict set of rules defined by limitations of browser technology at the time. This was considered a good thing, for it gave users a way to understand and control their interaction with a service.

But in order to satisfy the hunger for richer interfaces, applications have come into vogue whose screens cannot be bookmarked, saved to disk or navigated with the back button. Submitting a form or following a hyperlink are no longer transparent mechanisms for the user to understand their interaction with an application. Opening links in new tabs gives us a blank page, reloading a screen takes us to a different place, and an ever-busy loading indicator reminds us of our browser constantly performing requests we never initiated.

Most of the time, the productivity gained by rich interfaces makes up for the loss of control and transparency. But when it comes to my finances, control and transparency is all I care about. When I transfer money, I don't want the transaction form show a cute spinner wheel that may or may not update parts of my screen. I want the form to do a stupid POST request. 1995 style.