Web browser evolution and the emergence of platform-based technologies

¶ … Beyond Web 2.0 provides a chronologically based analysis of the progression of Web-based technologies, bridging from Web browsing to the technology developments transforming the Web into a platform. This chronological analysis of the progression of Web browsers and Web technologies traverses from publish-and-subscribe models to full development platforms where the Web becomes the operating system (Raman, 2009). One of the most insightful aspects of the article is how the author shows the progression not as entirely planned, yet as chaotic and at times contradictory to the standards that existed during each period discussed. This makes the article much more realistic, and sets the foundation for how Web 2.0 technologies, predicated on their chaotic yet concerted development timeline of Web technologies, actually leads to the development of an operating platform on the Web. For beginning and intermediate students of computer science and information systems the article is a good tutorial as to the structure of browsers including the integration of HTTP and HTML standards, and the ubiquitous role of URLs. The author transitions well into the area of widgets and stand-alone applications based on AJAX programming standards. For advanced readers there is a code example of a Web gadget.

Significance

This was an ambitious article to write as it covers both the chronological and technologic maturation of Web browsers, their supporting technologies. The greatest significance however is how the author instructs the reader as to how Web gadgets are created, the role and importance of Web APIs, and the significance of AJAX as a programming standing. He also specifically addresses the areas of the Web as a platform, successfully defined its attributes from an operating system-specific level, focusing on distributed, separable, universal (thanks to JavaScript), zero install routines and Web API significance. The long-standing objective architecturally of ensuring Web programming and development architectures and tools allowed for applications to be data and platform independent is also addresses thoroughly in this article as well.

Of significance is the discussion of how the iGoogle gadget architecture works as well. The example specifically shows how XML is used in conjunction with HTML, coordinated through the use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to create a platform independent application. The author also discusses JavaScript in this context in addition to the role of HTML DOM in the gadget, in addition to the broader maturation of the technologies contributing to platform independence on the part of Web gadgets or applications.

What also makes the article significant is the logical conclusions the author draws as to the direction of development past Web 2.0, encompassing data aggregation, the ability to manage projections of data from content repositories and the ability to create cross-products or mash-ups. The article's title connotes this ambitious direction, and the author delivers with some excellent insights as well. The article concludes with the section, the User-Oriented Web: A Total Perspective section that discusses how aggregation, projection and mashups will impact users, the author ties together the progression of technological developments from a technological and process standpoint effectively. The significance of the article is both as a refresher of key concepts but also of explanations of how to web gadgets are going to revolutionize Web application development as well.

Questions Raised By Author

The author raises the questions of why specific standards meant to unify Web application development have failed, in addition to questing if Web gadgets are going to be the future of development for the foreseeable future. He also raises questions as to the extensibility of CSS style sheets and the accomplishment of data-level independence on the part of Web-based applications overall. He also specifically questions the transition of interactive applications that require a browser to be opened to use vs. The use of web gadgets to accomplish comparable design objectives. The author also looks into the future of and sees a series of gadgets that allow for Web users to personalize their news and information sources, tailoring them to their unique interests. Finally, the author raises the question of how aggregations, projections and mashups will be able to produce a unified experience for users when there is variation in data and application integration standards. This is the most pivotal aspect of the author's future vision.

Reference

(Raman, 2009)

TV Raman. (2009).Toward Web 2(w), Beyond Web 2.0. Association for Computing Machinery. Communications of the ACM, 52(2), 52.

Blog entry: http://xml-applications.blogspot.com/2009/01/toward-2w-beyond-web-20-rest-of-story_7874.html