Web 2.0
With the increase in the bandwidth available to the internet users and the tremendous improvements in the computation power of server technologies, the internet is not any more just a information portal. The websites are required to do more than just display static information. The user is now the center of design for any website. Web 2.0 is the concept that accumulates all such ideologies into one. The way the websites depend on the user and the interaction with the user, the features that the website offers online are the defining attributes of the web 2.0 concept.
What do we expect?
The websites said to be conforming to the web 2.0 standard is expected to offer services online, the services that are otherwise thought of as a desktop service. Also the interaction level that the website establishes with the different users plays a key role. The users not only interact with website, but within each other as well as in communities. This makes the webspace more than just a information provider. The website will virtually simulate an environment that can help the user to avail a specific service.
Technologies that help:
The web 2.0 concept can never be possible if not for the evolution of the concepts like AJAX, Adobe Flash, Flex etc. These are the ones that define the high quality interactivity that we see these days on the web. The page is no more static, it just need not reload for every click! The AJAX frameworks and Javascript oriented developments are the base for the Web 2.0 concept. The HTML 5 is the one that has incorporated all such changes and it offers the next step in making the web2.0 a simpler to implement concept.
Having said these, the concept of web 2.0 can be oriented in 3 approaches over the internet:
ñ Closing the gap between the desktop experience and the web experience by having a very interactive UI on the webspace. Such applications are referred to as Rich Internet Applications.
ñ Service Oriented Architecture: This is one where you have a very minimalistic client (mostly just the interface part forms the client) and we have a server which does all the processing involved in the application. Every aspect of the application is offered as a service to the client. Here the internet has the cloud server or other powerful server architecture that serves the web pages that contain interface for the client that is web browser. All processing applications are taken up as service from the browser.
ñ The social network that the web establishes between the different users is the final piece of the web 2.0.
Web 2.0 is one that uses the client-server architecture to the fullest extent and offers desktop like applications over the internet, along with a virtual space for being in contact with other users. This helps the user in much more ways and takes most from the service providers who are the website hosts. It gives more advantages to the user and the improvements to the static web1.0 concept is tremendous to say the least.