Here's my list of 2005 predictions:

1. XMLHTTPRequest will be the thing that makes applications work online. Google's killer apps Google Suggest and Gmail will make it so.


2. bittorrent will become the sine qua non file sharing tool. Of the bittorrent sites that have been sued by the MPAA, a select few will fight and lose, but others will develop technology to encrypt and anonymize the process. In the legal world, Expect to see it take the place of traditional mirrors in the case of breaking video memes. (BoingBoing's been very good about this) A few of my non-webby friends have mentioned it off-the-cuff, so it's becoming household.


3. Successful small website design will revolve around Google optimization and content management. See a continuing trend towards standards-based design, and an increasingly typographical (typophilic?) treatment of websites, favoring content over gaud.


4. That said, the new sins of web design will be excesses of these features. Expect to see ridiculously unnecessary headers, catchy document titles, and a bit of pandering to would-be linkers. (overall this will still be good, but the Google-friendlier web might look a bit more like the New York Post than we'd like to imagine)


5. The return of the diagonal stripe, in both web design and fashion. It starts within the hallowed confines of 8-bit isometric nostalgia but slowly becomes a non-ironic staple of design, much like the oversized belt buckle. I hate diagonal stripes and weep for the future.


6. Designers go apeshit for Aqua-inspired buttons.


7. Slow, tectonic shifting towards #ffffff. Desaturation of color schemes on portal sites. Yahoo seems to have done it over the last year or so -- others will follow. MSN will be last.


8. The last powermac owner fails to become sufficiently indignant when he sees dithering, and the web-safe palette dies a quiet death.


9. Normals finally get the message and install Firefox because their Nerd tells them to. And lo, the popups stop.


10. Spyware and adware detection packages go mainstream because grandma's seen one too many dildo.


11. At new price point, Mac Mini makes dent in PC market. PC users slowly realize they don't need Windows.