Web 2.0 outlines the latest version of World Wide Web – dynamic, highly scalable and organic in growth. The rampant popularity enjoyed by Web 2.0 design patterns has resulted into companies blindly including the buzzword among their highlight features. Following are the state-of-the-art web design and development patterns that may be looked up in full or in part to determine a Web 2.0 company:
(a) Harnesses the potency of small sites that form the majority of the web content. Web 2.0 reaches out to the masses wide and across Internet, generally utilizing algorithmic data management. For example, Googles AdSense indulges in dynamic content generation by placing least disturbing, context-sensitive and consumer friendly text ads across exhaustive Web Pages possible. Likewise, eBay acts as an automatic intermediary between even highly small-scale single individuals dealing in few dollars. BitTorrent renders every client a server that empowers its network to provide both bandwidth and data. As a result, files that are more popular take relatively less time to download.
(b) Sports forte in handling a specialized and distinctive database. Be it Google or Yahoo or Amazon, all offer specialized database services that lends them an unbeatable niche. Web 2.0 applications are not merely collection of software tools, but applications collecting and managing unique and large-scale data.
(c) Encourages user participation to add value. The highlight of Web 2.0 design is that it is empowered by collective brainpower. For example, Google PageRank is based on the number of links (outsider votes) garnered by a website. Amazon outdoes competition by inviting extensive user participation in various ways, including reviews and ratings. Wikipedia grows organically as it allows any web user to add content to be collectively edited and proofread. Open source software projects may be found on certain sites that let users copy/ add code for mutual advantage.
(d) Builds vital database using a natural architecture of participation. Web 2.0 architecture enhances intuitive networking by aiding selfish motives of the target users. It recommends setting inclusive defaults for assembling data gathered by day-to-day use of the application. Like, Napster by design serves earlier downloaded music that helps user activity and builds valuable database naturally. Open source software projects like Linux, Apache, Perl, etc. also sport well-defined extension mechanism that empowers network growth in outer layers akin to onion.
(e) Keeps fewer restrictions in licenses. Web 2.0 design chooses in favor of least restrictive Intellectual property protection limits to harness benefits of collective adoption. In fact, it recommends scope for hackability and remixability.
(f) Improves continuously. Negating scheduled releases, Web 2.0 recommends continual and consistent upgrading in real-time, without disturbing existing services. The Web 2.0 companies, like Google and Yahoo, may be often spotted sporting Beta logo to mark ongoing development process and real-time monitoring of user behavior by restrictive implementation. They refine the new feature consistently based on feedback received, before its actual pervasive implementation.
(g) Offers syndication and lightweight programming models. Composed of a network of co-operating data services, Web 2.0 applications encourage web services interfaces and content syndication. They favor lightweight programming models that allow loosely coupled systems to the extent of fragility.
(h) Develops device-independent applications. Keeping in mind the scope and access of Internet beyond a personal computer, Web 2.0 design enables seamless incorporation of its services across various platforms, including mobile handsets, PCs and Internet servers.
While DoubleClick, belonging to the Web 1.0 era, recently claims over two thousand successful implementations of its software, Google AdSense, the child of Web 2.0 purely, has already crossed hundreds of thousands implementations. The radical success and growth witnessed by the truly Web 2.0 web designs indeed reinforce the relevance and far-reaching prospects of Web 2.0 catchphrase.
I’ve been on the Internet almost at its inception, around 1995. By trade, I’m a freelance web designer, so I need to spend a lot of time online. But I often feel like I’m sailing on a boat without having a clue where it’s bound to. I read ads from people looking for designs that have a web 2.0 look and feel. Though I acknowledge that there has been evolution on the web, where is the demarcation between the so-called web 1.0 and web 2.0? Also, from the perspective of a designer, how do you design web 2.0 web sites?