But think about it, at least 5 years ago this phrase sounded shocking. Life is impossible without parents, friends, and relationships many would tell you. But the reality is most people can’t live without their families and whether they would want to admit to it or not, without modern technologies as well.

The world has changed, we forget about meeting up with friends to go to the theater or cinemas, we can now communicate via Facebook, Skype and mobile phone and it doesn’t look strange. In fact we can know more about the Coliseum in Rome, than a person living next to it. Modern appliances and technologies make us all-instant experts with literally a world of knowledge at our finger tips.

Many would protest about the importance of technology in their lives but if you take a closer look you would be hard pressed to find a person that doesn’t make use of it in one form or another.

It could range from doing your research and booking your next vacation online, internet banking, online weather updates, downloading music or staying in touch with loved one’s via email or Facebook.

Movie lovers don’t even notice that Box Office hits like Spider Man, Toy Story, A Bug’s Life or Godzilla wouldn’t have made it to the big screen if it wasn’t for the advancements in technology. Simple things like how your pharmacy is able to keep track of the medication they give you to various medical breakthroughs are all made possible because of technology.

So yes you might not be part of the trendsetters tweeting away on Twitter, or Mxiting it up with friends but even the ‘non-geeks’ will have to admit, technology does make our lives a lot more convenient and colorful. http://www.virtuosa.co.za

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2. Web development as an industry
3. How to Learn SEO – Search Engine Optimization

Since the mid-1990s, web development has been one of the fastest growing industries in the world. In 1995 there were fewer than 1,000 web development companies in the United States, but by 2005 there were over 30,000 such companies in the U.S. alone. The web development industry is expected to grow over 20% by 2010. The growth of this industry is being pushed by large businesses wishing to sell products and services to their customers and to automate business workflow.

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 for early websites, one can now develop a simple web site for less than a thousand dollars, depending on the complexity and amount of content.

Smaller Web site development companies are now able to make web design accessible to both smaller companies and individuals further fueling the growth of the web development industry. 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 development popularity.

Another contributing factor has been the rise of easy to use WYSIWYG web development software, most prominently WebDev, Adobe Dreamweaver or Microsoft Expression Studio. 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, but recommended for professional results.

The next generation of web development tools uses the strong growth in LAMP and Microsoft .NET technologies to provide the Web as a way to run applications online. Web developers now help to deliver applications as Web services which were traditionally only available as applications on a desk based computer.

Instead of running executable code on a local computer, users are interacting with online applications to create new content. This has created new methods in communication and allowed for many opportunities to decentralize information and media distribution. Users are now able to interact with applications from many locations, instead of being tied to a specific workstation for their application environment.

Examples of dramatic transformation in communication and commerce led by web development include 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 development is the blog. Web applications such as MovableType and WordPress have created easily implemented blog environments for individual Web sites. Open source content systems such as Alfresco, Typo3, Xoops, Joomla!, and Drupal have extended web development into new modes of interaction and communication.

Source: Wikipedia® – a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization

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However, among web professionals, “web development” usually refers only to the non-design aspects of building web sites, e.g. writing markup and coding. Web development can range from developing the simplest static single page of plain text to the most complex web-based internet applications, electronic businesses, or social network services.

For larger businesses and organizations, web development teams can consist of hundreds of people (web developers). Smaller organizations may only require a single permanent or contracting webmaster, or secondary assignment to related job positions such as a graphic designer and/or Information systems technician.

Web development may be a collaborative effort between departments rather than the domain of a designated department.

 Web Development can be split into many areas and a typical and basic web development hierarchy might consist of:

Client Side Coding

• 
  AJAX Provides new methods of using Javascript, server side languages (eg ASP.Net or PHP) and other languages to improve the user experience.
• 
  Flash Adobe
  
  Flash Player is a ubiquitous client-side platform ready forRIAs.
  
  Flex 2 is also deployed to the Flash Player (version 9+)
• 
  Javascript Formally called ECMAScript, Javascript is a ubiquitous client side programming tool.
• 
  Microsoft Silverlight Microsoft’s browser plugin that enables animation, vector graphics and high-definition video playback, programmed using XAML and .NET programming languages.

Server Side Coding

• 
  ASP (Microsoft proprietary)
• 
  ColdFusion (Adobe proprietary, formerly Macromedia)
• 
  CGI and/or Perl (open source)
• 
  C Server Scripts (TrustLeap G-WAN, freeware)
• 
  Java, e.g. 2EE or WebObjects
• 
  Lotus Domino
• PHP (open source)
• 
  Python, e.g. Django (web framework) (open source)
• 
  Ruby, e.g. Ruby on Rails (open source)
• 
  Smalltalk e.g. Seaside, AIDA/Web
• 
  SSJS Server-Side JavaScript, e.g. Aptana Jaxer, Mozilla Rhino
• 
  Websphere (IBM proprietary)
• .NET (Microsoft proprietary)

Client Side + Server Side

• 
  Google Web Toolkit provides tools to create and maintain complex
  
  JavaScript front-end applications in
  
  Java.
• 
  Pyjamas is a tool and framework for developing AJAX applications and Rich Internet Applications in python.
• Tersus is a platform for the development of rich web applications by visually defining user interface, client side behavior and server side processing. (open source)

However lesser known languages like  Ruby and Python are often paired with database servers other than MySQL (the M in LAMP). Below are example of other databases currently in wide use on the web. For instance some developers prefer a LAPR(Linux/Apache/PostgreSQL/Ruby on Rails) setup for development.

Database Technology

• 
  Apache Derby
• DB2 (IBM proprietary)
• 
  Firebird
• 
  Microsoft SQL Server
• MySQL
• 
  Oracle
• 
  PostgreSQL
• SQLite

In practice, many web developers will also have interdisciplinary skills / roles, including:

• 
  Graphic design / webdesign
• 
  Information architecture and copywriting/copyediting with web usability, accessibility and search engine optimization in mind
• 
  Project management, QA and other aspects common to IT development in general

The above list is a simple website development hierarchy and can be extended to include all client side and server side aspects. It is still important to remember that web development is generally split up into client side coding covering aspects such as the layout and design, then server side coding, which covers the website’s functionality and back end systems.

Looking at these items from an “umbrella approach”, client side coding such as XHTML is executed and stored on a local client (in a web browser) whereas server side code is not available to a client and is executed on a web server
which generates the appropriate XHTML which is then sent to the client. As the nature of client side coding allows you to alter the HTML on a local client and refresh the pages with updated content (locally), web designers must bear in mind the importance and relevance to security with their server side scripts. If a server side script accepts content from a locally modified client side script, the web development of that page shows poor sanitization with relation to security.

Source: Wikipedia® – a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization

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*New Raleigh spoke with the owner of Cameron Bar and Grill, who claimed he told MSF Technologies more than once that “you can’t do that” in reference to copy and pasting original copyrighted images and text found on the New Raleigh website.

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3. History of Web Design