Magazine
 
Web 2.0
 

Origin of Web 2.0
Before the origin of Web 2.0, Web 1.0 was known as a term ‘Web’ that was like warehouse of information and static content. Then, as time passes, with the advancement of technology and software, a huge amount of data and content became dynamic and returning custom results to users. With the evolution of new century, the Web became much more interactive. It allowed the users to play, stop, rewind and fast-forward through audio and video content. It was Web 1.5. But gradually, Web-based applications act like local applications, but on a worldwide level with the social illusion just before since last two or three years. This is known as Web 2.0.

The concept of “Web 2.0” began with a conference brainstorming session between O’Reilly and MediaLive International in 2003. Dale Dougherty, web pioneer and O’Reilly VP, noted that the dotcom companies were being crashed very rapidly despite of having quality and right marketing strategy. It is assumed that something is common in all the dotcom companies that were not being distinguished by the client and being the causes of crashing. Though they observed that Web applications have a lot more than it had been used so far. They decided to do something different with web application, thus the concept of Web 2.0 has been evolved. O’Reilly had presented the feature of Web 2.0 in 2004 in a conference claiming the new version of Web. It began to popular since then.

Google, Live, Orkut, YouTube etc are the best examples of Web 2.0. In the model of Web 2.0 O’Reilly had presented that the Web 2.0 based software can do better business and are more efficient. This causes the revolution and many more web applications replacing the most common and popular Web applications e.g. Google AdSense replaced DoubleClick, Flickr replaced Ofoto, Napster replaced mp3.com, Wikipedia replaced Britannica Online, Weblogs replaced personal websites, Search Engine Optimization replaced domain name speculation, Wikis replaced Content Management System while folksonomy replaced taxonomy. There is a long list of Web 2.0 that is accepted widely. But the controversy is still going on about the definition of Web 2.0. Some people are criticizing it saying that it is a meaningless marketing buzzword while many people heartily accept it and enjoy it too.

Characteristics of Web 2.0

Though there is a controversy still going on over the definition of Web 2.0, yet it has some basic common characteristics. These include:

• Web 2.0 use network as a platform as it deliver or receive applications thoroughly via a browser.

 

• Users gets, manipulates and controlled the data on the site.
• Participatory architecture in which user can add or edit value to the application according to their requirement.
• A rich, interactive, user-friendly interface based on Ajax or similar frameworks.
• Some social-networking aspects.
• Enhanced graphical interfaces such as gradients and rounded corners (absent in the so-called Web 1.0 era).

Usage of Web 2.0

After emerging of Web 2.0, it is being vastly used because of its wide range of variety and very attractive features. Descriptive list of Web 2.0 tools are endless even though we can say that the new generation of Internet approximately uses its tools. Web 2.0 tools include Weblogging, Wikis, Social networking, Podcasts, Feeds, Social bookmarking, and Cascading Style Sheet. The Approach behind using Web 2.0 is different. Some uses it accidentally as for browsing purpose. Some uses it to fulfill theirs’ job because they need it. Some uses it by curiosity as they want to check it and some uses it by default as they have no knowledge about it. Overall, many people and companies use it but they don‘t know why? The reason may vary, but its utility is still undoubted.

Technical Overview

Web 2.0 has a complex and growing technology that includes server-software, content-syndication, messaging- protocols, standards-based browsers with plugins and extensions, and various client-applications. All these differ in functions and approaches but provide all the requirements beyond the expectation such as information- storage, creation, and dissemination capabilities.

• A web 2.0 website may usually feature a number of following techniques:
• Rich Internet application techniques, optionally Ajaxbased
• Cascading Style Sheet, CSS
• Semantically valid XHTML markup and the use of Microformats
• Organization and collection of data in RSS/Atom
• Clean and meaningful URLs
• Excessive use of folksonomies (in the form of tags or tagclouds)
• Use of wiki software either completely or partially (where partial use may grow to become the complete platform for the site)

August 2007 | Java Jazz Up | 31
 
previous
index
next
 
Pages: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30,
31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40,            Download PDF