In layman language Web 2.0 means the second generation of web development. The first generation web development is considered to be the great dot-com bubble of late 90's and the rupture of which around late 2001 triggered ubiquitous reactions that the Web was over hyped. Concept of second generation of Web development started after a media conference between O'Reilly and MediaLive International. In this brainstorming session it was realized that the web has thrown up more interesting applications and Web technology has emerged more important that ever and the word Web 2.0 was coined. Web 2.0 is a business revolution making a bent towards the web as a platform. Web 2.0 doesn't have a definite boundary and there are several things encompassing a core. Web 2.0 is visualized as principles and collection of numerous sites running on those principles at some distance from the core.

Since then Web 2.0 has remained a top level discussion for proper definition and boundary that is yet to be reached. One can simply say blogs, social bookmarking, wikis, podcasts, RSS feeds, and lightweight business over a single platform. Web is no more one way, now uploading, and downloading of information happens simultaneously, sharing and distributing contents across networks leveraging the power of "Long Tail".

Web 2.o includes numerous practices. Here are some typically implemented practices by websites:

• Well-off internet applications based on Flex or Ajax.
• This intend to allow information intended for end-users, such as contact information, calendar events, geographic coordinates, content life, social relationships etc
• Presentation is separated from content through Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).
• High-end APIs (Application programming interfaces).
• Content Syndication through RSS or Atom.
• Facility for content creation through users, also by machines from client side or server side.

Content Syndication: Syndicating partial or whole content through standard protocols such as RSS, Atom, and RDF by using XML so as to be used by the end-users for their need.

Some misconceptions on Web 2.0:

• Curvy designs (This curvy structures became widely popular at the same time, designers also started making more websites with this cool looking styles)
• Use of Ajax or Flex (Which happens to come in the same time of Web 2.0, No doubt that websites with web 2.0 architecture needs these to work well.)

Web 2.0 is not an alien to criticism and had its fair share. Here are some criticisms leveled at Web 2.0

• Web 2.0 is not a new version of World Wide Web at all. It merely uses the technologies and architectures of Web 1.0.
• Ajax is not substituting the HTML protocol; it's an additional layer over HTML.
• Blogs or social networking was features of Amazon.com since 1995 when the word called Web 2.0 dint exist. It's way more than only blogs and social networking.

Internet is the new media that has been creating a buzz everywhere lately. Be it an aspiring musician or model or a successful organization, everyone now wants to make their presence felt on the new media, the much hyped and talked about internet. And this online presence is often done by creating a website or webpage containing useful information along with media files that help to highlight the USP of the individual or organization. The main idea is to get an edge over competition by venturing into a newly and still largely untapped region. But this "untapped region" is not so untapped after all. It's a common trend for businesses and individuals to go online in the present day and this has again effectively introduced a new area of competition. There are millions of websites and webpages scattered all over the World Wide Web and the numbers are growing every single second. So how does a particular site stand out from its competitors, attract more clients and exert the maximum influence?

In order to answer this question, we need to understand the source of visitors to any website. There can be many sources like hyperlinks from a particular page, word of mouth and viral procedures. However, the primary source of visitor to any website is through the search engines. Search engines list websites on the basis of a number of parameters and the ones listed on the first page, especially towards the top, gets more visitors than the others. In order to get a website listed on the top of any search engine result index, a whole lot of technical issues need to be taken care of. These are known as search engine optimization techniques. However, it's not just these techniques that would help a website to gain advantage over its competitions. The SEO techniques require support from the design aspects too. For example a particular website with very good search engine listing would attract a lot of visitors but if it does not have a proper navigation facility, the visitors would not be able to find what they are looking for and would eventually abandon the site.

It is definitely not possible by any one person to handle all the aspects of an effective website. So the best possible option is to go for professional help. One good thing is, presently there are several companies that offer professional website development service at an affordable rate. However, it's best to have an overview of the services they offer before entrusting one with the job. A firm that offers a whole bunch of services right from the development of the site, the designing aspects and search engine optimization techniques to support each other would surely be the best choice.

Thus it could be concluded that website development services are quite essential in order to have an effective website developed, for individuals or organizations interested in making their presence felt on the internet and gain advantage over competitions.

How's your website, then?

I'm not asking whether it's a good site or not, but what its performance is like. Is it slow to load? Does it have problems with certain web browsers? Occasionally you'll find that code working perfectly on, say Internet Explorer, doesn't work with Firefox. And vice-versa. Any coding problems?

How should I know? Who... who cares? I hear you ask.

Because it's important. You only have seconds -- tenths of seconds, even -- to make an impression on people who come to your site. If the site isn't working, has dead links or some old code that doesn't work and leaves the site with blank areas, you can bet your life those lovely, potential customers will click away at the drop of a pixel. And more than likely they'll be clicking away to the welcoming site of one of your competitors.

Wake up and smell the Mugicha! After reading this post you no longer have any excuses for not knowing. There's a website I often turn to when I want to see how my own site is doing, performance-wise. It makes for uncomfortable reading sometimes, because it doesn't hesitate to tell me stuff I don't particular want to hear -- the site's too heavy, too many images, too many elements, you've failed at life, you're a bad, bad person... et depressing cetera. But it's well worth it.

I have no connection whatsoever with the owners of the site and this isn't an affiliate link, so click in confidence. Here it is:

http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/

Put in the full address of your website and have a look at what it says. Pretty eye-opening stuff, eh? You didn't realise it was that bad, did you?!

I'm not particularly interested in contacting the owners of the site to ask for their optimization services, but the results I get when I check my site are very interesting. Useful, too. Oh, and completely free. Check it out.