web trends Archives - Frank Waive

The world is continually evolving, the web too is evolving with it. The evolution of the world and everything in and about it depends on human behavior for direction. As our needs and ideas change, we modify what is already in existence to meet such needs and sometimes create new things.

Our ideal fashion evolves like everything else, clothes we could have worn in the 80s we can no longer wear, wearing such outdated clothes would quickly make us look odd, reduce our self worth and confidence thereby affecting our social security.

Just like clothes and everything else, the web evolves too. It’s evolution being guided by human needs and desires just like everything else too. More comfort, speed, beauty, ease and security have been the main determinants of the evolution of the web, and so far, it tends to meet most of our needs at different decades.

We keep wanting more, and we’ll keep getting more because we’ll keep working towards having more, we’re never satisfied. Take cars for example, kids want toy cars, teens want real cars, and for the rest of life, keep working towards having better cars. Each year, there is a newer model with more features, a sleeker look and of course people naturally would want the new ones!

This desire for a newer and better thing is part of what drives the evolution of web standards. While it could be said that a desire for a newer and better thing is one of the determinants for a better web, necessity is also a feature that drives this evolution, it’s necessary to have better security, better stability!

The evolution of the web could easily be divided into two major parts, evolution of web standards and evolution of web browsers to portray and accommodate those standards.

The Evolution of Web Standards
As a result, web stands have changed over the years and would keep changing, CSS3 is fast making way for the next CSS standard, for HTML, the new and still Shiny HTML5 is in vogue, Java script is fast replacing some functionalities of flash and silverlite. Programming languages such a PHP, ASP.NET, Python, Ruby, Java etc are improving the capabilities of the web and its security.

The Evolution of Web Browsers
As web standards improve, old browsers built to support the old web standards would be replaced by new browsers with capabilities to support the new standards. Browsers are frequently tested and upgraded to improve security, usability friendliness and performance, all this in-line with the evolution of web standards.

The web is always evolving, you have the option of evolving with it or choosing to be left behind. Whatever choice you make as an individual will not affect the evolution of the web, so i’d say it is in your interest to evolve with the web.

For Web workers such as developers and designers, it is imparitive we follow and adapt to the trend! I know designers who in the 90s and early 2000 refused to start using divs for site structure, they didn’t see anything wrong with tables, they felt divs was just another option and tables were the main thing, Today, most of them have adapted inconveniently and out of compulsion while others are now out of business!

The same thing goes for browser updates, some folks don’t just like updating their browsers and even their Os! In Nigeria, over 40% of Internet users still use windows XP and Internet explorer 6! Firefox 3.5 is still the most popular version of Firefox in Nigeria!

Sad as this statistics may sound, it applies to both very big corporate organizations and individual computer owners/users. As at this time of writing, Shell Nigeria still uses Windows Vista (Internet Explorer 8) on 95% of all its computers!

Web developers must follow web standards as they evolve, this would secure their future, safeguard their users and clients, make beautiful things while web users should ensure they update their browsers, its for your own good! Where ever you are, who ever you are, stay up to date!