Evolution of Web Technologies and the Future

Web technology has come a long way since its introduction during the 1980s. There was a time when the World Wide Web was used primarily by researchers of universities to share information related to their academic work with specific audience (co-workers).  Times have changed greatly and today social media sites like Facebook and Google search engine have become a part of daily life even for a layman living in third world nations. The developments responsible for this change within the web technology landscape are spread across different fields. It has to do with advancements in mark-up languages, programming languages, server technology, data transmission technology and infrastructure that supports internet. The write-up tries to explore few key areas of in the course of evolution of web technologies.

Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML)

The birth of HTML can roughly be marked with the birth of World Wide Web. Tim Berners-Lee, who is responsible for the introduction of World Wide Web, wrote the software for this browser and a server by 1990. The browser was developed to be able to interpret and compose content (just text) and display it on the web page. Tags were used on the back-end of web pages which were processed by the browser and content displayed in the computer. Development of HTML tags took place stage-by-stage, initially from displaying simple text to be able to display pictures and add better visual effects during the late 1990s period. The development of new tags was closely related to introduction of browsers that could interpret and display content in a better way. Netscape was one of the browsers back then which had these abilities. The developers further went on to standardize markup language such that all browsers could interpret website in a similar way. Earlier browser specific tags were the standard for web pages. Today, HTML is continued to be used as one of the markup languages for designing websites both static and dynamic.

Developments in Browsers

Tim Berners-Lee takes credits for the development of first web browser the World Wide Web in 1990. Soon, there were many other browsers that followed and this began the internet revolution. By the year 1993 there were browsers that could bring home graphical content which, for the first time, made web pages available and useful to layman. The beginnings were dominated by a browser named Netscape, thanks to the pictures and content it could display on web pages. Microsoft entered the market during late 1990s by integrating its browser application with the Windows operating system. The name Internet Explorer took over the market and it continues to be a popular browser even today, about 30 years after its introduction. It is referred to as one of the oldest browsers which is still in use.

The beginning of 2000s and the later stages saw many developments in internet technology. By then websites found use in many areas of daily life. Information gained high-importance. The market today is dominated by new browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari and Opera. With advancement in the website design and development, introduction of search engine and the smart devices, web browsers of today are much more advanced with many new features and are designed to deliver a wide-variety of content.

Advancements in Web Server Technology

From the time when World Wide Web was created, there has been rapid transformation in the web server technology which has fuelled the growth of internet. The combined developments in server technology (software side and hardware side), web browsers and website design and development have resulted in this phenomenal growth in information technology landscape. During the beginnings of internet era the speed at which requests for web pages were processed and retrieved and the hosting space offered for website content on the server were limited. With the growth of internet, website technology started to spread its roots into most of the business landscapes which created the need for higher processing speed and increased accessibility for large number of users. Thanks to the developments in technologies such as virtualization and advanced data management systems in recent times, today we are able to achieve phenomenal data handling capabilities and processing speeds.

Web Technology of the Future

There has been a drastic transformation in the applications of website technology. From the time where web pages were used to merely display text to the times where video calls and live streaming are possible, websites have come a long way. Today, everything from connecting to unknown people to buying stuff happens online. There are billions of users accessing the internet everyday. Browsers and applications have become so complex that they can sense the mood of users and display appropriate content on web pages.

In future it may become difficult to draw a line between what is today web/internet technology and daily life activities. According to reports from technology domain, in the future information technology may integrate with our lives in ways that are hard to imagine. There are already display models of wearable computers that take technology to a whole new level. With everything from phone to refrigerator, television to automobiles becoming smart, the connectivity of devices with the internet in future will be seamless. There may be automobiles that can remind you that you are late to school and drive you without you having to do anything. There may be refrigerators that sense the shortage of vegetables and other food items within them and place orders in supermarkets automatically. There may be televisions that remind and suggest you programmes that you may want to watch or in your absence record your favourite programme without your intervention.

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