Future Trends

One thing that is certain about the future of the World Wide Web is that things will change. Although no one can predict what these changes will be, it is possible to isolate the areas of change that will have the greatest impact on web developers.

Web Technologies

The rapid development of the industry and the relative simplicity of current web tools points to one major conclusion -- the tools we are using today are going to be far different than the ones we will be using tomorrow.

Browsers

Browsers are already growing more complex as additional functionality and media handling capabilities are being added (Adobe's PDF format, Macromedia's Shockwave, and Sun's Java are three with such notable technologies). Additional technologies and features that browsers are starting to support include:

• ActiveX
• Streamed audio and video (such as RealAudio and StreamWorks)
• VRML
• Personal IDs
• Secured transactions
• Email, newsgroups
• Inline QuickTime and AVI movies
• Word processing, HTML editors, and charting capabilities
• Internet telephony

 

Webservers

Servers and other web components are also changing rapidly and are likely to continue changing. The list of evolving areas includes:

• Transaction processing
• Database connectivity
• Discussion boards
• Chat sessions
• Native Java processing
• Shared virtual reality environments
• Groupware services
• Document publishing and versioning tools
• Encryption
• Distributed object services

In fact, many experts think that a large number of the things that we consider to be the core of the Web will be subsumed by distributed object services. For example, some think that browsers may fade into the desktop and be replaced by distributed and shared multimedia documents and collaborative applications and applets.

Project Management and Communication Tools

Other factors likely to have a significant impact on web development are project management and communication tools. The usefulness and popularity of a program like Lotus Notes, when combined with the growth of the Web and the surge in Intranets, clearly indicates that there will be Web-based tools for allowing collaborative work via the Internet.

Several of the more important tools are listed below. Although most exist in client-server formats, their migration to the Web has only just started. Web-based versions from existing productivity tool developers are likely to appear within the next year along with many products from obscure startup companies. Deciding what companies to choose and figuring out how to integrate these programs into an effective system will be some of the more challenging problems for growing companies.

• Shared document publishing
• Built-in version control and viewing
• Calendar and scheduling programs
• Discussion boards
• Human resource management tools
• Budgeting and cost allocation tools
• Time accounting programs
• Contact databases
• Desktop video-conferencing
• Desktop voicemail and fax control

And finally, check out some Cool Websites.

 

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