Web Development -
Using Web Design, Coding, Configuration
to Develop a Web Site

Web development is an extensive term that incorporates all areas of developing a web site for the World Wide Web. This includes graphical web design, coding of pages, backend programming, web site hosting, and web server configuration. However, the website-hosting-advisor usually refers web site development to the non-design aspects of building web sites, e.g. writing markup and coding.

Web development has been one of the top growing industries in the United States since the mid-1990's. In 1995 there were fewer than 1,000 web site development companies and in 2005 there were over 30,000 such companies. The web development trade is expected to grow over 20% by 2010. The growth of this industry is being pressed by large businesses wishing to sell products and services to their customers and to automate business workflow, as well as the growth of many small web design and development companies.

In addition, cost of web site development and hosting has dropped dramatically during this time. Instead of costing tens of thousands of dollars, as was the case several years ago, you can now develop a simple web site with only a few hundred dollars. Smaller web development companies are now able to make web design accessible to both smaller companies and individuals further fueling the growth of the web site development industry.


Tools and Platforms

As far as web development tools and platforms are concerned, there are many systems available to the public free of charge to aid in development. A popular example is the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP), which is usually distributed free of charge. This fact alone has manifested into many people around the globe setting up new web sites daily and thus contributing to increase in web site development popularity.

Another contributing factor has been the rise of easy to use WYSIWYG web development software, most prominently Microsoft FrontPage or Macromedia Dreamweaver. According to the website-hosting-advisor, using such software, virtually anyone can develop a web page in a matter of minutes. Knowledge of HyperText Markup Language (HTML), or other programming languages is not required.

The website-hosting-advisor sees examples of dramatic transformation in communication and commerce led by web site development including e-commerce. Online auction sites such as eBay have changed the way consumers consume and purchase goods and services. Online resellers such as Amazon.com and Buy.com (among many, many others) have transformed the shopping and bargain hunting experience for many consumers.

Another good example of transformative communication led by web site development is the blog. Web applications such as WordPress and b2evolution have created easily implemented blog environments for individual web sites. Open source content systems such as Xoops, Joomla, and Drupal have extended web development into new modes of interaction and communication.



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