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development :
Web development is a broad term that incorporates all areas
of developing a web site for the World Wide Web. This can
include e-commerce business development, web design, web content
development, client-side/server-side coding, and web server
configuration. However, among web professionals, "web
development" usually refers only to the non-design aspects
of building Web sites, e.g. writing markup and coding. Web
development can range from developing the simplest static
single page of plain text to the most complex web-based internet
applications, electronic businesses, or social network services.
For larger businesses and organizations, web development teams
can consist of hundreds of people. Smaller organizations may
only require a single permanent or contracting webmaster,
or secondary assignment to related job positions such as a
graphic designer and/or Information systems technician. Web
development may be a collaborative effort between departments
rather than the domain of a designated department.
Since the mid-1990's, web development has been one of the
fastest growing industries in the United States. In 1995 there
were fewer than 1,000 web development companies and in 2005
there are over 30,000 such companies. The web development
industry is expected to grow over 20% by 2010. The growth
of this industry is being pushed by large businesses wishing
to sell products and services to their customers and to automate
business workflow, as well as the growth of many small web
design and development companies.
In addition, cost of Web site development and hosting has
dropped dramatically during this time. Instead of costing
tens of thousands of dollars, as was the case for early websites,
one can now develop a simple web site for less than a thousand
dollars, depending on the complexity and amount of content.
Smaller Web site development companies are now able to make
web design accessible to both smaller companies and individuals
further fueling the growth of the web development industry.
As far as web development tools and platforms are concerned,
there are many systems available to the public free of charge
to aid in development. A popular example is the LAMP (Linux,
Apache, MySQL, PHP), which is usually distributed free of
charge. This fact alone has manifested into many people around
the globe setting up new Web sites daily and thus contributing
to increase in web development popularity.
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