Buck Rogers: Web Developer?

As the first decade of the 21^st Century wanes into History, how might we summarize the role of the Web in popular culture? If you had to summarize the web in a word or a phrase, what might it be? For example, when did you first utter the phrase “web services”?
Considering the various technologies which, together, add up to your personal on-line experience– as you prefer it– how important is the role of JavaScript in its realization? As the web continues to evolve over the next decade, what technology do you expect to see as a valuable player? What resources do we have today which might help us to make predictions about changes to come?

Rich Internet Applications: the RIA

Since the advent, and rapid implementation of Ajax, Rich Internet Applications have turned up everywhere, but is it always the most appropriate choice for the end user? Consider your sense of security in your on-line activity, using web applications which have been developed for your use of a particular service. Do you have a different sense of security when performing an on-line banking transaction, than you do if you search for current movie show-times, or query your favourite dictionary for the proper spelling or definition of a word? Do you expect the experience of these activities might evolve, and if so how? Security aside, how do you expect our interactions with on-line services might change as the web evolves? Will we continue to interface with JavaScript and HTML? What sort of alternative to the current conventions would you like to see become a reality?

Is it Standardized?

Is it Accessible?

Is it Secure?

In my experience, I favor Scalable Vector Graphics, or SVG– a kind of image which is represented by a unique XML doctype, not as millions of pixels in varied color, lesser valued legacy to painstaking pointillism, the raster graphic which does so canvas the Web as we know it, but an arguably more artful form of graphic objects, in perfectly variable, plotted shapes made up of a more natural system of lines and curves. It occurred to me that readers unfamiliar with SVG may not find the headline overly exciting, as to draw him or her in to reading the article. I decided to take a step back, that I might settle on a proper presentation for an introduction to SVG, hoping ultimately to generate an interest in its current use in production web sites; that the reader might investigate the W3C working drafts for the SVG standard; to encourage experimentation with the various software available for working with SVG. As I find them, I will share links to web sites where SVG is in use, to show off the impressive graphics, animations, and other very exciting SVG related media already on the web. I’m eager to try my own hand at coding SVG in XML. Llike a child with a new toy, I’m anxious for a bit of show-n-tell, hoping to share something new and interesting with my fellow learners!