Serious business is now being transacted across the Internet using off-the-shelf E-Commerce tools, web development tools, and data converters to/from off-the-shelf document editors such as Microsoft Word™. The Internet is no longer reserved for geeks and government labs; thankfully, upgrades to its infrastructure, including high speed xDSL and cable modem technology, support the massive increase in traffic that couldn't be handled by the 'net just a few years ago.
Web Consulting in 1994 meant writing HTML pages by hand, because no better tools were available. Java, JavaScript, VBScript, ASP, DHTML, and XML were nowhere to be found, and most web servers were public domain engines ported by hand from the original NCSA source. In 2000, a vast array of "consumer" tools make it hard to decide which way to go, and advertising agencies, high school students, and part-timers compete for development contracts. The half-life of the typical web page is measured in weeks, if not days, making content more interesting to the reader.
Having a "thicker pipe" makes for richer multimedia content, better overall response time, better throughput, but lets the web designer forget about the low end customer, the home user whose modem won't connect over 28.8kb/s because the home is too far away from the central office to support DSL. All that rich multimedia just comes across as white boxes with little red X's in them, audio samples are always "Buffering, network congestion", and the Boston weather maps take so long to appear it is easier to look out the window. We still haven't learned to balance glitzy graphics with performance, have we?
If you would like a hand decrypting Web-speak, and are planning or reviewing your company's Internet presence, you owe it to yourself to take the time to ask what you really need, and what paths might lead the right way. Give us a call.
Updated August 8, 2000