Web 2.0 Thoughts

As a web developer you are confronted with a massive wave of emerging technologies like scripting languages (PHP, Python, Ruby on Rails, Zope,..), data storage systems (MySQL, PostgreeSQL, SQLite, XML, Cloud), protocols (JSON, AJAX/HTTP), web services (twitter, youtube, gmail, facebook,..), content management systems (Typo3, Joomla,...) and ever growing software, addons and libraries.

Nowadays being a web developer is a completely different matter like it was 7 years ago when I started my "Internet-career". Back then, it still was an achievement to be able to create your own file upload and file listing in simple HTML and PHP. Over the years, the server side scripting languages have become less and less important and follow a shadowy existence by now, as the client scripting side, namely JavaScript, was put in the spotlight with it's great promise: AJAX.

If you want to have a modern website it is infeasible not to use JavaScript, which increases the efforts by much more than it was 7 years ago.

We all follow the hidden obligation to re-implement 40 years of user interface design into every common browser, without breaking compatibility to older browsers or technologies (like the Browsers Back button).

That not only requires a big set of expertise and will of learning but also endless nights of experimenting and trying out which configuration works for which browser.

Gladly, many many excellent tools and libraries have been written, available for the greater public on which I stumble upon from time to time.

I'm particularly astonished about all the existing JavaScript Libararies like Prototype, jQuery, DoJo, Mootools, etc. serving Multipurpose functionality to the mass. They seem to have a big establishment in Web2.0 Websites by now.

Frankly, I was never a big fan of bulky libraries when you have the chance to put together or program the things you need yourself.