The Web 2.0 Dream

There are a number of new and emerging technologies, ways of using them and adapting them, together which make the web such a more rich and interesting experience today. Dare I say rewarding? I've been designing and building websites for awhile, and these new web-tech-memes that are starting to sprout up everywhere like little, digital, pluggable smurfs and Lego web-widgets, spell the end of what we will one day probably refer to as the "Dark Ages" of the web.

• AJAX - That we can begin to create web pages with little cool and functional widgets is just the beginning. So much having to do with asynchronous http requests is making our web experiences flow in a far more seamless manner. But too much of a little thing can be bad too. I like to use these treats sparingly, when and where necessary, not everywhere. And definitely not "just because I can."
  
  
• HTML 5 - This is where I think we will all see the greatest improvements. If all major web browser support it, it will be great for both users and developers. Simple embedding of AUDIO and VIDEO in an html page? I could cry. Or the ability to drag and drop objects within a page? Or between pages? I must be dreaming. HTML 5 holds more promise than anything else, I think, to dramatically change the way we experience websites over the next few years.
  
  
• Chrome & Wave - This will be very big for both the web in general and Google specifically, if they can pull off the browser, the OS, and the new applications based on them. Much if this will rely heavily on HTML 5, which of course Chrome supports. I simply cannot wait for the Mac version of the browser to come out!
  
  
• Better Browsers - I know we haven't seen an incredible amount if this, especially from one certain, ahem, browser. But I have faith that this will all change, and soon. I notice already that recent version of both Safari and Firefox perform faster than their predecessors. That browsers are getting faster is almost unimaginable. I predict much better consistency in support of standards across all the major browsers.
  
  
• Cloud Computing - Software-as-a-Service, Amazon's AS3, the Google cloud, and the web as the OS. This one is a little hard for me to see clearly how it will all pan out, but it is certain that with web-applications and the browser as the OS, the experience of interacting with the web (not just "using it"), will begin to resemble more and more what we are accustomed to from desktop applications, except that the data will spend more time online than off line. This could mean less need for large hard drives on desktops and laptops. It could also mean we all hold all of our precious information in someone elses hand, and reap both the benefits and consequences of that.