The Trends - Web 2.0

Posted by multippt

The old era of web 1.0 have come and gone. A new generation of web applications have come about. This is web 2.0. Now then, what is web 2.0?

Web 2.0, does indeed have a certain significant difference from the traditional web 1.0 applications. They tend to include a range of eye-candy, and the pages usually consist of user-driven content, that is, the pages aren’t so static/stiff after all. No, you need not download anything to enjoy web 2.0, instead, you might have already experienced it. ”Web 2.0″ is a phrase originally coined by the O’Reilly Media, 2004, and yet despite the years, it does not have a precise/definite definition to it. However, the idea of web 2.0 does give ideas to what one might imagine.

The Interface

Web 2.0 applications tend to have very user-friendly interfaces, encompassing clean looking panel-like groupings, coupled with eye-candy inclusive of gradients and special effects. The coming of the 21st century indeed see more creations that try to give the user a more friendly experience, at the same time give more features. Long gone are the days where one would stare at a screen filled with white words in a black background (command-line interface). All these experienced from a web browser seems very much like a fantasy 15 years ago, now, its become a reality. Other than the colorful effects a web application may have, the plain interface of grey, black, blue and white is starting to become the norm.

The Features

Most web pages in the past used to contain plain html, maybe coupled with a few javascript or vbscript here and there. There were not many that used SSI neither languages such as PHP, ASP, ASP.net (aka *.ASPX), and ruby-on-rails. There was no such thing as complex animations (Macromedia Flash), and the most common method of animation were probably GIF images. Now, you see more web pages utilising php and asp.net, and retrieving data from databases such as MySql, MsSql, and Firebird. AJAX is also starting to become common, and other technologies and APIs are being developed as well.

The People

Administrators, graphic designers and programmers are getting more skilled over the years. With them getting more creative and innovative, their creations become more sophisticated. Setting up and creating a web 2.0 site is not an easy task as compared to setting up a web 1.0 one. Other than the administrators, the visitors to the site tend to be more picky and would quickly judge how good a site is to them within seconds. Thus, the first impression is the most important one. Other than that, not many visitors to the site linger more than 20 minutes in a site, thus the site has to be as interesting as possible, so the visitor would remain longer. With the increasing affluence of the people in the 21st century, more people would be able to own computers, at the same time with access to the internet, thus there would be a net increase in visitors, leading to the birth of sites that cater to large amounts of visitors.

The Money

With the increase in people using the web, there will be an increase in the profitability of the web. Most, if not all web applications which help the party earn money fall under the web 2.0 category. An example is Google Adsense. Also, the idea of earning money online has given rise to other forms of web 2.0 applications such as PPC (Paid-Per-Click Ads), PTB (Paid-to-Blog), PTS (Paid-to-Surf), and several others. Domain registration has become a business, especially during the dot-com boom that happened years ago.

The Publicity

Nowadays, it is easy to find a blog, be it personal, or a newsblog. Yes, blogs are examples of web 2.0 applications, since they are user driven. So are forums and wikis. Many would desire to have many visitors in their site, and may submit their’s to places such as digg and several traffic exchanges.