What is Web 2.0? An Introduction

It’s something that has become somewhat of a cliche around the water-cooler these days - and not just in the web industry, believe me! Web 2.0 has definitely gone down as one of the buzzwords of our century - yet some people still do not know what the whole ‘Web 2′ craze is all about. In honor of the change in perspectives that have occurred due to the whole Web 2 hype, today we take a step back and get to know ‘Web 2.0′ one-to-one, heart-to-heart.

Coined (in what seems to be) all those years ago now, in 2005, the phrase ‘Web 2.0′ or ‘Web 2′ for short, is used to define a shift in progression in the web. More importantly, a ’second-generation’ of Berners-Lee’s World Wide Web leaning towards the way in which websites are designed and developed. Sure, that sounds easy enough to digest - right? The result of the juxtaposition of ‘Web generations’ occurs when we realize that the whole Web 2 idea is a lot more than ‘The web on steroids’ or ‘The Web’s very tech-savvy son’.

In theory, the power of Web 2.0 lies in the fact that a true Web 2.0-built website should, by all means, allow users to do more than just retrieve information. Gone are the days when clicking on a link and reading a blog post was considered highly-enthralling (don’t get me wrong - I love blogging!). These days, with the shift in thought surrounding website design from basic ’static websites’ to ‘Web 2.0 portals’, we are expecting a lot more.Not only should the site offer you information - hell, we have Web 2 now! It should interact with you; the avid viewer, and more importantly change how you think websites should work. ‘Make the font bigger or smaller’, ‘move sections of the site you commonly use above the fold of the page’ (and have it remember your settings when you come back next time!), ‘access information on the fly without reloading the page’ - all appropriate and able to be done through Web 2 and it’s related technologies.

So we have jumped onto a greater topic of interest now in ‘Web 2.0 technologies’. I mean what is a web buzzword if it isn’t attached to countless other buzzwords anyway? Web 2.0 would really just be a buzzword if it weren’t for all its underlying technologies, discussed below.

The list begins with our good friend Ajax; a mix of JavaScript and XML, which allows web developers to asynchronously talk (exchange information) with databases (website backend’s) without making the user leave or reload the page. Imagine this, in a galaxy not too far away, you are browsing through a website loaded with information. You click on a side-link to a sub-page, and bang! Nothing has changed! The website still looks exactly the same; the header, footer, side-navigation and website address (if the developer intended so) are all still as you had left them - but one thing has changed; the content you requested has been pulled out from the database through XML and JavaScript and is now displayed right before your eyes where the previous content was. Cool! (or is it Uber?).

Adding to the list we started is Rich Internet Applications, affectionately known as R-I-A’s in the web industry (and by no means not the Recording Industry Association of America!). Rich Internet Applications, are collectively classed as web applications that have the features and functionality of traditional desktop applications. RIA’s can be made using a mix of current web technologies like Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, Adobe AIR, and/or Microsoft’s brainchild, Silverlight - a subset of Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).

Simple and sweet, right? In essence, a RI application would present the user with the ability to perform those functions which said user is accustom to due to having those features present on a desktop personal computer or a laptop.

Some functions Rich Internet Applications share with many desktop applications may include:

1. Drag and drop
2. Alerts (live or delayed)
3. Window resizing
4. Minimizing of windows/pop-ups
5. No page refreshing

By doing many of the above, Rich Internet Applications help the user to feel as though they are working in a desktop-like environment; thus making it intuitive or easy to use. Many of the modules/options you could expect to find in such applications ‘mimic’ or use same functionality as other prominent software such as the Microsoft Office suite or Microsoft Outlook which take a user-centered approach to their design philosophy.

So there you have it, a dirty-quick yet fulfilling, informative introduction to what Web 2.0 is. Stay tuned for more articles, including a guide to Web 2.0 website design as well as an early look at Web 3! Yes, you read that right! Subscribe to the RSS feed for more.

I know it’s a little bit belated now, but Happy New Year to you all!