Given the increasing super-hype about Web 2.0, there’s lot of “noise” going on around the web. The way people are hyping it, you’d think it’s the best thing since sliced bread. Proponents like to use the term to describe the 2nd generation of web development. Is it just smoke of is it something of a new beckoning?
Many people credit Google Maps as one of the 1st Web 2.0 tool. As somebody who’s familiar with web development, it blew me away. It made mapping more interactive than other traditional mapping sites. Recently, I ran across Meebo. It’s basically a web-based instant messenger and another fine example of what AJAX can accomplish. Meebo feels like an application, not a traditional web site. You have collapsible and draggable window frames. It’s interactive & is an exemplary of a Web 2.0 application.
Like most developers, I was so ingrained with a static web, so it’s refreshing to see such thing possible. Interativity has always been the Archille’s heel of web development in term of usability. But for most users, it has all been promised before. DHTML, Flash & Shockwave to name a few. So why should this be any different? First and foremost, while these technologies are popular, they never made it down to the platform level and therefore never ubiquitous. What makes Web 2.0 promising is AJAX. This approach uses plain Javascript, HTML & XML which are supported cross browsers and operating systems. It’s encouraging to see the possiblity of the web as a platform to deliver application. It’s what Netscape promised over 10 years ago but never delivered.
My feeling is that all this is just evolutionary rather than revolutionary that some proponents trying to lead you to believe. The short of it is that Web 2.0 doesn’t represent new technology or breakthrough. Web developers are just getting better at what they’re doing, learning to apply existing technologies in more effective ways. No Intelligent Design here, we developers can evolve too! 😮
