Web Developers
A web developer is a software developer or software engineer who is specifically engaged in the development of World Wide Web applications, or distributed network applications that are run over the HTTP protocol from a web server to a web browser. Many web developers are also skilled in related areas such as web design, information architecture, usability engineering, web content management systems, web server administration, database administration, software engineering, project management, network security, and search engine optimization.
Developers often specialize in either frontend or backend work. Frontend developers tend to focus on the client-side and typically work with technologies such as markup languages, ECMAscript and its variants (JavaScript, JScript, ActionScript), CSS, and the DOM. Backend developers usually focus on the interaction between server-side frameworks using Perl, Python, Ruby, PHP, JSP, or .NET and databases. Some backend developers maintain databases directly on their web servers, while in other situations the backend developer calls data, managed by a database administrator, on an external system.
In recent years the role of Presentation Layer Developer has evolved from the Frontend Technologist/Interface Developer role. Those previous roles specifically focused on implementing browser/client side technologies such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript. As web architecture has became more complex there has been an increased need for deeper integration with the application server.
Application Service Providers
An emerging strategy for application software companies is to provide web access to software previously distributed as local applications. Depending on the type of application, it may require the development of an entirely different browser-based interface, or merely adapting an existing application to use different presentation technology. These programs allow the user to pay a monthly or yearly fee for use of a software application without having to install it on a local hard drive. A company which follows this strategy is known as an application service provider (ASP), and ASPs are currently receiving much attention in the software industry.
Benefits
Browser applications typically require little or no disk space on the client, upgrade automatically with new features, integrate easily into other web procedures, such as email and searching. They also provide cross-platform compatibility (i.e., Mac or Windows) because they operate within a web browser window.
Web Application Awards
The Web Developers Association of America™ proudly presents the 2009 winner for Innovative Web Applications.
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The W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) maintains a set of open standards and guidelines which are generally considered best practices to follow when programming for the web. Often, web developers help contribute to these open standards and guidelines through their work on open source projects working to help enhance and debug web-based technologies.
However, because of the fairly low barrier to entry -- freely available development environments (web server environments and development languages), freely available tutorials and information on how to do web development -- novice web developers often do not adhere to the open standards and guidelines. Additionally, poorly designed or proprietary software tools that don't follow the open standards and guidelines create ad hoc and de facto standards which must be followed in order to "make things work". This was especially true during the "Browser Wars" of the 1990s. It is becoming less true as more and better tools enter the marketplace.