The State Of Web Development 2006/2007

A report came out claiming to be the largest survey of web developers (5,000) in history. Flash, Blogs, podcasts, AJAX, server platforms, content management systems, industry best practices, and CSS layouts are just some of the areas analyzed in depth in this report.

http://www.sitepoint.com/reports/reportwebsurvey2006/freepreview.php

The report expects Flash usage to decline from 39.85% (Ajax is currently at 30.03%) to 23.36% (with Ajax making that up in the form of a jump to 45.77%). On the question: "which technologies are you or your organization planning to use in your future web projects (next 12 months)?" syndication (RSS/Atom), blogs and podcasts are coming on top. The summary ends with creative responses to "what the next big thing on the web" will be. Here are some highlights:

• Pure interaction with the user: giving the user the chance to style a site to his needs, save those preferences and have them ready every time he visits a site. Users will be able to interact with the content without the webmaster or designer having to constantly monitor everything in the background.
• Paradigm shift: you will not search the Web for information. You will define what you want, and the Web will collect it for you. Example: I, the customer, will define that I want to buy a screen. This info will be distributed/collected by potential vendors. They will then present me, the customer, with the information that will enable me to purchase their products.
• I believe that now that people are getting faster Internet connections, things like video that are beginning to take off now will be a big part of e-commerce sites and service sites. It is a great way to try and earn trust with the customer as you can show your face –chat to them and let them know who you are.