Web development is a broad term for the work involved in developing a web site for the Internet (World Wide Web) or an intranet (a private network). This can include web design, web content development, client liaison, client-side/server-side scripting, web server and network security configuration, and e-commerce development. However, among web professionals, “web development” usually refers to the main non-design aspects of building web sites: writing markup and coding. Web development can range from developing the simplest static single page of plain text to the most complex web-based internet applications, electronic businesses, or social network services.
For larger organizations and businesses, web development teams can consist of hundreds of people (web developers). Smaller organizations may only require a single permanent or contracting webmaster, or secondary assignment to related job positions such as a graphic designer and/or information systems technician. Web development may be a collaborative effort between departments rather than the domain of a designated department.
Web Development can be split into many areas and a typical and basic web development hierarchy might consist of:
[edit] Client Side Coding
Ajax Asynchronous JavaScript provides new methods of using JavaScript, and other languages to improve the user experience.
Flash Adobe Flash Player is an ubiquitous browser plugin ready for RIAs. Flex 2 is also deployed to the Flash Player (version 9+).
JavaScript Formally called ECMAScript, JavaScript is a ubiquitous client side platform for creating and delivering rich Web applications that can also run across a wide variety of devices.
Microsoft Silverlight Microsoft’s browser plugin that enables animation, vector graphics and high-definition video playback, programmed using XAML and .NET programming languages.
Real Studio Web Edition is a rapid application development environment for the web. The language is object oriented and is similar to both VB and Java. Applications are uniquely compiled to binary code.
HTML5 and CSS3 Latest HTML proposed standard combined with the latest proposed standard for CSS natively supports much of the client-side functionality provided by other frameworks such as Flash and Silverlight
Looking at these items from an “umbrella approach”, client side coding such as XHTML is executed and stored on a local client (in a web browser) whereas server side code is not available to a client and is executed on a web server which generates the appropriate XHTML which is then sent to the client. The nature of client side coding allows you to alter the HTML on a local client and refresh the pages with updated content (locally), web designers must bear in mind the importance and relevance to security with their server side scripts. If a server side script accepts content from a locally modified client side script, the web development of that page is poorly sanitized with relation to security.
- [edit] Server Side Coding
- ASP (Microsoft proprietary)
- CSP, Server-Side ANSI C
- ColdFusion (Adobe proprietary, formerly Macromedia, formerly Allaire)
- CGI and/or Perl (open source)
- Groovy (programming language) Grails (framework)
- Java, e.g. Java EE or WebObjects
- Lotus Domino
- PHP (open source)
- Python, e.g. Django (web framework) (open source)
- Real Studio Web Edition
- Ruby, e.g. Ruby on Rails (open source)
- Smalltalk e.g. Seaside, AIDA/Web
- SSJS Server-Side JavaScript, e.g. Aptana Jaxer, Mozilla Rhino
- Websphere (IBM proprietary)
- .NET and .NET MVC Frameworks (Microsoft proprietary)
The World Wide Web has become a major delivery platform for web development a variety of complex and sophisticated enterprise applications in several domains. In addition to their inherent multifaceted functionality, these web applications exhibit complex behavior and place some unique demands on their usability, performance, security and ability to grow and evolve. However, a vast majority of these applications continue to be developed in an ad-hoc way, contributing to problems of usability, maintainability, quality and reliability.(1)(2) While web development can benefit from established practices from other related disciplines, it has certain distinguishing characteristics that demand special considerations. In recent years of web development there have been some developments towards addressing these problems and requirements. As an emerging discipline, web engineering actively promotes systematic, disciplined and quantifiable approaches towards successful development of high-quality, ubiquitously usable web-based systems and applications.(3)(4) In particular, web engineering focuses on the methodologies, techniques and tools that are the foundation of web application development and which support their design, development, evolution, and evaluation. Web application development has certain characteristics that make it different from traditional software, information system, or computer application development.
Web engineering is multidisciplinary and encompasses contributions from diverse areas: systems analysis and design, software engineering, hypermedia/hypertext engineering, requirements engineering, human-computer interaction, user interface, information engineering, information indexing and retrieval, testing, modelling and simulation, project management, and graphic design and presentation. Web engineering is neither a clone, nor a subset of software engineering, although both involve programming and software development. While web engineering uses software engineering principles, web development encompasses new approaches, methodologies, tools, techniques, and guidelines to meet the unique requirements for web-based applications.
