Great changes have taken place in the past 20 years, but few things have undergone such changes as Web development. We have gone through several stages, usually so different that it is hard to imagine that this is the same story.
The Past of Web Development
The past of the Internet, for those who have experienced this era, seems to have happened yesterday. The website flickers, the screen or things on the screen are jumping, we check with users whether their browsers can display images (marquee, flicker, image map), the web interface looks more like a lively gathering, rather than one providing information And links to places for more information.
After this stage, we entered into another one, which, despite having played an important role in the growth of the web itself, was extremely complicated for development. Who has not seen it certainly heard of the browser war - Microsoft Internet Explorer versus Netscape Navigator, JavaScript versus JScript.
This competition has brought important progress, but it has also brought many problems. The most notorious of these is the lack of compatibility of the technology used. We no longer check whether the user’s browser has a specific function. We started to develop for specific browsers. If the user is using Internet Explorer and the browser version, we will check the screen resolution.
We have reached the point of restricting access to content, depending on the tools the user uses, this is a dark stage. Urgent intervention is needed. Competition needs to bring progress, not restriction. It is necessary for an organization to promote standardization.
The Present of Web Development
Perhaps the biggest advancement in Web development was the W3C Foundation in October 1994. If today we have SVG, PNG, HTML, XHTML, XML, CSS, DOM, RDF, SOAP, and several other formats, and these formats can work on almost any device, we owe W3C. The main objective of this entity has been achieved, namely to promote standardization and interoperability. Due to this standardization, development has been precisely simplified. If we now have the possibility of unknowable development, we must thank the W3C for its standardization work during these 20 years.
I want to know what it will be like today if we continue to develop as before. If we check if the user has the Flash plugin installed or if their screen resolution is 1024 × 768 pixels, what will we do today? We can no longer perform this type of verification. Today, access to applications comes from a variety of sources and devices. If we were to verify each one, our application would actually be a huge conditional structure, with different paths and branches for each type of access source. No, we don’t need it anymore.
The Future of Web Development
Although the Semantic Web is already a hot topic and we are already developing this concerned application, I think a lot of things will still happen. Processors such as IBM recently launched TrueNorth will soon become a reality. The machine will actually understand what we produce. If machines can understand the meaning of things, for example, they can increase the accessibility of content.
One of the biggest difficulties I see today is providing content to users with special needs. We already have standardization and specifications in this area, but how do we create content for people with different experiences? How can we provide the best experience for those who cannot see, hear, or have any other special needs?
I believe that when we give content semantics and machine understanding, we take a step towards more accessible content. Semantics has become a reality, but I believe that the accessibility of content, regardless of the source of access and the difficulties encountered by users, will become a reality in the near future.
If you are looking for a career in web development, you will face many pressing problems. How long does it take to learn all the basic skills? What is the average salary of a web developer? What is a typical day for web developers?
Conclusion
Analyzing the past and present of Web development, technological progress, and the possibilities of accessing content we have today, it is difficult to predict the future. Great changes have taken place in 20 years, and changes will surely happen even faster in the next 20 years.
However, it is easy to notice that Web development is now much easier. And it’s much easier because today we are more likely to obtain content through standardized technology. If we have standardization and easier development, we will also have a better access experience than ours.
Friday, May 22, 2020