The Top Ten differences between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0

Summary: I'm not a big believer in Web 2.0. Your opinion may differ, but the word "Web" is a fancy catch-all phrase for the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP, the protocol used for transferring information between a Web server and your Web browser) and the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML, the markup language that tells your browser how to display whatever text, graphics, etc is coming through the HTTP "pipe").

I'm not a big believer in Web 2.0. Your opinion may differ, but the word "Web" is a fancy catch-all phrase for the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP, the protocol used for transferring information between a Web server and your Web browser) and the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML, the markup language that tells your browser how to display whatever text, graphics, etc is coming through the HTTP "pipe"). Over at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), there actually are versions of these protocols. HTTP for example is still on version 1.1 and has been since 1999. The most recent of HTML (version 4.01) is just as old. There is something over at the W3C in draft mode called XHTML which is now at version 2.0 and has relevance to the future Web. But a one-to-one mapping of it directly to Web 2.0, especially when you consider how many things have been dropped into the Web 2.0 bucket that don't use XHTML, doesn't work either. 

If you looked at all the Web apps and sites that have been dropped into that Web 2.0 bucket, one of the more common ingredients would probably be use of the AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML) programming technique -- a technique that generally speaking adds an element of real-time interactivity to Web pages that might otherwise be very static. Google's Gmail e-mail service, for example, uses AJAX to keep your view of the inbox updated as new mail arrives with out having to refresh the entire Web page. I'm fairly certain that AJAX is also the enabler of Gmail's autosave feature (that automatically saves drafts to Gmail's servers for you as you are writing your emails). But threess problems that are common to many if not all AJAX-based pages is how they often interfere with the functionality of a Web browser's back button (in most cases, it either doesn't work, or it takes you back to a page that you don't want to be taken back to). Another is that the forward button (when advancing to a page with AJAX code on it) yields unpredictable results as well. And finally, the same goes for bookmarking AJAX-driven pages. Joe Clark writes about it here.

So, when people ask me what Web 2.0 is, a lot of times, I say "It's when the back button doesn't work! (something that usually works with Web 1.0... but not always). The other thing I say is that I don't think there's a trade or servicemark on "Web 1.0."  But O'Reilly has the service mark on Web 2.0. That's a big difference too.

We're looking for the Top Ten difference's between Web 1.0 and 2.0. If you want to chime in, send an email to me at david DOT berlind AT cnet.com with your one-liner. Once we get all the submissions, we'll consolidate and run a poll to see which should make it into the top 10. Then, we'll figure something out for the winners. 

Topic: Browser

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23 comments
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  • that's funny

    I find this article kind of amusing since the zdnet website has recently been updated to look more Web 2.0-ish, include the awfully digg-like thumbs up or down voting system. Ha. Ha.

    As for AJAX and the Back button, I've only read about. Not experienced it. When would I ever need to click Back in Gmail or Yahoo Mail Beta? All the links I need are on the page. Back doesn't make sense in most applications, that's what makes AJAX good to use for apps. Furthermore, there are programming workarounds for making sure the Back button does work.

    P.S. Has everyone seen the new and improved microsoft.com? Who knew MS could have one of the coolest sites on the Web?
    citizensagainst@...
    • The main problem I think

      is that for some folks (myself included), the back button has been ingrained in our brains to the extent that I don't even think about it. It is just one more navigation tool that I use on a semi-regular basis. Its just a habit.
      wcb42ad
    • RE: The Top Ten differences between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0

      @citizensagainst@...
      arif wibowo
  • top 10 reasons why it should be called "web 7.0" or somehting similar

    Incredibly, people are thinking this is the first big, huge, jump from what we had - but guess what? It's not the first time.

    Top ten things that changed long before anybody even knew of "Web 2.0":

    1) We went from ARPANET to the Internet.

    2) We went from bulletin boards and a protocol called "gopher" to webpages and http.

    3) We started using Hypertext Markup Language.

    4) We started using XML & CSS instead of plain HTML.

    5) Development of TCP/IP.

    6) DNS instead of plain IP addresses.

    7) Unicode instead of plain DOS text.

    8) Email.

    9) Instant Messaging.

    10) Wireless access.

    This isn't the first - and certainly won't be the last - time that we've experienced new technologies during the development of the Internet. "Web 2.0" is simply a marketing tool and a name for the conferences of O'Reilly, pure and simple.

    The top ten times to use the term "Web 2.0":

    1) When talking about O'Reilly conferences.

    2) When talking about O'Reilly conferences.

    3) When talking about O'Reilly conferences.

    4) When talking about O'Reilly conferences.

    5) When talking about O'Reilly conferences.

    6) When talking about O'Reilly conferences.

    7) When talking about O'Reilly conferences.

    8) When talking about O'Reilly conferences.

    9) When talking about O'Reilly conferences.

    10) When talking about O'Reilly conferences.
    CobraA1
    • Amen

      Amen.
      Stoutner
  • Just my humble contribution

    See my small cartoon:
    http://geekandpoke.typepad.com/geekandpoke/2006/12/to_know_its_web.html

    Bye,
    Oliver
    owidder
  • Web 2.0 is a marketing gimmick plain and simple.

    It just an effort to group the changes in the functionality, usability and the interlacing of all sorts of "invisible to the user auto-features" as some sort of "movement."

    It tries to justify itself as some sort of "standard" that "all of those in the know" just know is the "right way to do things and definitely the future."

    Honestly it's just another version of the big lie technique, keep saying something regardless of veracity until it is taken as fact despite there being no reality behind it.

    All these changes, some of which are guided by various cooperating industry hands would happen regardless of the changes being "called web 2.0."

    It's another foolish, time-wasting attempt to force the computer industry to homogenize it's standards and practices (when it comes to th web.)

    It's the attempt by the anal retentive marketing types to force their needs for some sort of order on a industry that dispises set standards.

    If the technology industry wanted/needed standards, we'd have them. We don't have them, because it is still a field of non-stop innovation, and rapid advancement.

    In such a chaotic environment, standards and rules like contained in Web 2.0 written by marketeers are worthless, because they do not appreciate the chaos is the reason for a lot of advancement. It isn't a hindrance. Hindering it would stifle innovation.

    And no, coming up with superfluous standards is NOT a form of innovation in and of itself like Web 2.0 is.

    Web 2.0 will be forgotten but not before it causes some people stay behind while they labor to adhere to web 2.0 standards in an technological environment where such "marketing driven, technological ignorant" movements are about as welcome as severe colonic distress.
    JonathanSeer
    • Standards

      You speak in some ignorance. While there is a lot of inovation the "standard" is what will the browsers do with it. Inovation on web sites that lock out all but one browser is a bad web site. Therefore innovations have an underlying standard or it is useless. When I develope a web site I test it with a variety if browsers. IE 4 and up, Firefox 1.2 and up, etc. Making a web site work well with all of these browsers takes effort. Just the IE ones can make problems. Standards are there for a reason and it makes life harder when there is none. It requires a lot of effort and therefore a lot of money for those of us who have to make all of this innovation work. This is my second line of work I have had where people who ignore standards have made me a lot of money.
      Endoscopy
  • Web 2.5

    You people are wa-a-a-ay behind the ball here. Web 2.5 has arrived, it'll make you money and it's hot. All it costs is a measly 99 bucks (we take Paypal exclusively) to find out how YOU can get it up for WEB - TWO - POINT - FIVE! (Set your email filters to accept v*agra2.5 now!)
    kentfx_z
  • Did we really need 2.0? Really?

    I personally see "Web 2.0" as an excuse for bloated web sites. Even today I see so many web sites that still use the plain and simple methods laid out in the early days of the web THAT STILL WORK!! Why do we need all this garbage to clutter up the internet and make surfing only more difficult? I'm sure there could be a few examples where it has helped, but 99% of the time if they web developers would apply the K.I.S.S. principle they'd find out that it works better. I guess it's just job security. Though, all I see is stupidity.
    Narg
  • Oh Yes!

    Yes, that "web 2.0" is only marketing. A AJAX site is MUCH harder to maintain that a simple web site.

    A web site is designed to be a thin solution. Most of the "called" web 2 sites are too slow. Web 2 (call it "crispy") is the same that "original" web but with heavier sites, more activity and a LOT of potential flaws. I wonder if I can use the XHTML Request to hack something.

    The only difference is that people today have faster access.

    The top difference:

    - Web 2.0 requires a heavier web browser
    danmarce
  • Web 2.0 Getting Some Direction

    <pre>
    If you are looking for answer to what Web 2.0 could be about, you'll to look back at the microcomputer's market growth. Step by step, from the typewrite, accounting machines, cash registers managed by servers, hand held device to continued attempts in replacing the telephone communications. Set your goals to developing for the large screen by thinking in terms of how the information worker or for yourself as a developer, might work in a large screen environment. Then you'll be thinking XML and Web 2.0. So, what is Web 3.0? Think it over!

    Peter Bisson Working on the idea but still needs a lot of work, Check my site at www.freefex.com. Want to give me feedback email page_programming@hotmail.com. Thanks for the opportunity to blog.
    </pre>
    pbisson
  • Web 2.0 Getting Some Direction

    If you are looking for answer to what Web 2.0 could be about, you'll to look back at the microcomputer's market growth. Step by step, from the typewrite, accounting machines, cash registers managed by servers, hand held device to continued attempts in replacing the telephone communications. Set your goals to developing for the large screen by thinking in terms of how the information worker or for yourself as a developer, might work in a large screen environment. Then you'll be thinking XML and Web 2.0. So, what is Web 3.0? Think it over!

    Peter Bisson Working on the idea but still needs a lot of work, Check my site at www.freefex.com. Want to give me feedback email page_programming@hotmail.com. Thanks for the opportunity to blog.
    pbisson
  • Web 2.0 Getting Some Direction

    If you are looking for answer to what Web 2.0 could be about, you need to look back at the microcomputer's market growth. Step by step, from the typewrite, accounting machines, cash registers managed by servers, hand held device to continued attempts in replacing the telephone communications. Set your goals to developing for the large screen by thinking in terms of how the information worker or for yourself as a developer, might work in a large screen environment. Then you'll be thinking XML and Web 2.0. So, what is Web 3.0? Think it over!

    Peter Bisson Working on the idea but still needs a lot of work, Check my site at www.freefex.com. Want to give me feedback email page_programming@hotmail.com. Thanks for the opportunity to blog.
    pbisson
  • The biggest difference for me...

    ...is that I can hear the term "Web" without wanting to take a baseball bat to someone. The '2.0' is a completely superfluous, innacurate, and deeply annoying buzzword whose only purpose for existence is to make variations on the same old tune seem more exciting to people who don't know any better.
    Ginevra
  • Biggest difference?

    It's hell to try and use... just stick to wasting people's bandwith, rather than attempting to use AJAX...

    I tried to use it the other week, crashed firefox... (on linux!)
    kamahl928
  • More importantly...

    ... why should I be forced to learn a UI for every bloody Web site on the Web, when my browser provides a great common interface. Sorry, when a site forces me to use some lame navigation system of its own, I close it out, and do not come back. Content and products on the Web are a commodity. I don't need to be forced to do anything I don't want to.

    J.Ja
    Justin James
  • What we really need...

    Is e-mail 2.0. We've been using the same protocols since 1982, which makes HTTP's 1999 debut seem like a baby. If we can get e-mail under control, maybe the rest of the Internet will change, too.
    FelisLachesis
  • What is Web 2.0?

    The story asked for a one-liner, re: top ten differences between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. So, here goes ....

    Web 2.0 fully implements integrated functionality.

    The line between the personal computer and the internet (or any other network) disappears. Your desktop becomes an active browser window (in fact, so does the operating system). The Start menu/Favorites/My Documents/My Pictures/My Music/etc. are all integrated into the same UI/tool bar menu. The Task Bar becomes tabbed browsing. Sometimes (when browsing a particular website) the back button works because it makes sense in that application. Sometimes (when I am working on a document or reading email) the back button does not work (or even appear) because it doesn't make sense in that application. Websites are sometimes browsable pages (Web 1.0) and sometimes applications (Web 2.0). Applications and files sometimes exist on the network (Web 2.0) and sometimes on the PC (Web 1.0). The user doesn't really care where things are located, only that the are accessible and fulfill a specific need. In fact, computing becomes so transparent that the user needs to stop and think about whether the data being accessed is located on the PC or on the network (not that one would need to do so very often). Finally, I will carry my user profile on a VM USB flash drive (or similar device) so that "my" computer (with access to my files on my "home" PC) is available on any computer located anywhere.
    TechProf
    • In other words

      In oather words, a bunch of integrated technologies under a stupid marketing name. First time the web has ungergone changes? Nope. First time things have been integrated? Nope. This isn't web 2.0.

      I have nothing against the technologies (well, except perhaps the idea that other companies are vying for control of my data, instead of it being on my own computer) - just the name people are using. It's not accurate in any way.
      CobraA1