Web Development As An Industry
Since the mid-1990s, web development has become one of the fastest-growing industries in the world. In 1995 the United States had fewer than 1,000 web-development companies, but by 2005 there were over 30,000 such companies. The growth of this industry is being pushed by large businesses wishing to sell products and services to their customers and to automate business workflow.
The cost of web-site development and hosting has dropped dramatically since 1995. Instead of costing tens of thousands of dollars, as was the case for early websites, one can now develop a simple web site for free using one of the many free website-builders such as Google Sites (depending on the complexity and amount of content). Smaller web-site development companies can make web design accessible to both smaller companies and individuals, further fueling the growth of the web development industry. For web-development tools and platforms, the public can use many free-of-charge systems to aid in development. A popular example, the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) stack is usually distributed free of charge. This alone has resulted in many people setting up new web-sites daily and thus contributing to an increase in web-development popularity. Another contributing factor has been the rise of easy-to-use WYSIWYG web-development software, most prominently Adobe Dreamweaver, WebDev, and Microsoft Expression Studio. Using such software, virtually anyone can relatively quickly learn to develop a very basic web page in a matter of minutes. Knowledge of HyperText Markup Language (HTML) or of programming languages is still required to use such software, but the basics can be learned and implemented quickly with the help of help files, technical books, internet tutorials, or face-to-face training.
The next generation of web-development tools uses the strong growth in LAMP, Java Platform, Enterprise Edition technologies and Microsoft .NET technologies to provide the Web as a way to run applications online. Web developers now help to deliver applications as web services which were traditionally only available as applications on a desk-based computer.
Instead of running executable code on a local computer, users can interact with online applications to create new content. This has created new methods in communication and allowed for many opportunities to decentralize information and media distribution. Users can interact with applications from many locations, instead of being tied to a specific workstation for their application environment.
Examples of dramatic transformation in communication and commerce led by web development include e-commerce. Online auction-sites such as eBay have changed the way consumers consume and purchase goods and services. Online retailers such as Amazon.com and Buy.com (among many others) have transformed the shopping and bargain-hunting experience for many consumers. Another good example of transformative communication led by web development is the blog. Web applications such as WordPress and Movable Type have created easily-implemented blog-environments for individual web sites. Open-source content management systems such as Joomla!, Drupal, XOOPS, and TYPO3 and enterprise content management systems such as Alfresco have extended web development into new modes of interaction and communication.
In addition, web development has moved to a new phase of Internet communication. Computer web-sites are no longer simply tools for work or for commerce, but serve more broadly for communication. Websites such as Facebook and Twitter provide users with a platform to communicate. This new form of web communication is also changing e-commerce through the number of hits and online advertisements.
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Famous quotes containing the words web, development and/or industry:
“If our web be framed with rotten handles, when our loom is well nigh done, our work is new to begin. God send the weaver true prentices again, and let them be denizens.”
—Elizabeth I (1533–1603)
“The experience of a sense of guilt for wrong-doing is necessary for the development of self-control. The guilt feelings will later serve as a warning signal which the child can produce himself when an impulse to repeat the naughty act comes over him. When the child can produce his on warning signals, independent of the actual presence of the adult, he is on the way to developing a conscience.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)
“No delusion is greater than the notion that method and industry can make up for lack of mother-wit, either in science or in practical life.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895)