What will be the next big thing on the Web? This was one of the questions asked in the State of the Web Development 2006/2007 Research by SitePoint. About 5000 web professionals took part in the survey, and below is a sample of the most interesting, insightful and creative answers.(Of course the I’s don’t refer to the author of this post)

I don’t envision a “next big thing” so much as an evolution of current trends towards standards compliance, responsible use of technologies and semantics, which will hopefully aid in creating a more tightly woven web of relationships between resources. I think we’ll continue to see simplistic elegance and functionality reign supreme.

I think a lot of what is “hot” right now will pass as a fad, and only what is truly functional, accessible, marketable and useful will remain.

Not entirely sure – the sky seems to be the limit – but the wider range of screen sizes from which to view the Internet (from large 20-25” monitors to small cell phone, watch and PDA screens), as well as the ever increasing awareness for the need to include people with various disabilities in the demographics for the websites we create, leads me to believe that the next big thing on the Web will include being able to design sites to be accessible from any number of devices in a large variety of sizes.

I would love to see some real progression on the notion of portable information: my content as I want it where I want it and adjusted for various (hopefully better) interfaces.

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. They just have to set up the site, then it will be up to the users.

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 think much of the hype of Web 2.0 will lead to more focused websites that not only do something (one thing) well, they do something that everyone actually wants and/or needs. Many of the sites we see now focus on some cool technology or concept, like social interaction, which has little practical usefulness. People rarely gather online and do things for the good of the community. They only do things that make their lives easier or because there is some intrinsic reward.

In my opinion, the future (Web 3.0?) will be the focus on content, and not functionality (which is Web 2.0). The sites that are able to provide the easiest access to the most in-depth and useful content will be the ones I would bank on. Everything else, including all the copy-cat sites that don’t improve on another idea, will go the way of the dodo.

Voice interactivity/navigation – users say what they want to do or where they want to go within a site OR a digital “site assistant” that speaks what the visitor would normally read – less text and a more replicatedhuman interface.

Stuff that “just works.” Users don’t care about the technology, as long as they can find what they want.

Fragrant websites, using XHTML 2.5 markup to drive pheromone emitters on USB sticks or embedded into SD cards for mobile phones and PDAs (making your site designs truly sexy). Odor-capture-enabled cards on digital cameras add a new dimension to images on the Internet. Does that food smell good? Book a place in our restaurant now! Ordering flowers? Have a sniff of these!

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.

Customer service – I expect the customer service levels of commercial websites will increase to the point where customers will get a much richer experience from shopping online than traveling to brick-andmortar stores. This will allow a wider range of products to become available on the Web.

The search engines will overtake the Web and its content! More and more, search engines and directories will store the content of websites, and there will be no more need to go to the actual sites. Why visit a page when its content is available in at least 6 other places?

The next big thing on the Web will be family (or heritage) portals where genetic- or heritage-related families combine to create genealogy sites. These sites will maintain information about the ancestry – family names, occupations, photos, etc. – in digital format. Global weather won’t destroy or wipe out entire memories of families – it will be safe, stored on redundant servers and preserved in the “heritage family vault” on the Web. You’ll get this huge pool of data about people and how they’re related to each other. Whether it’s just family all within one town or one state or one region or one country or one planet, just link the people with a photograph and blurb. How cool would that be? An option for a fee-based service could be sending mouth swabs to get family members DNA-sequenced. Store that information for any need to match DNA for any reason – health or emergency, we have it on hand and ready for immediate use and retrieval.

I believe that the next step for the Web is total immersion. Cell phones, PDAs, laptops, PCs, TVs – so many different ways exist to access the Web and more are added every day. The Web is going to become –if it hasn’t already – the hub on which the world spins. Think about it :

• You’re away from home on a business trip, your hotel room is smart. It knows your name. It knows what kind of beer you like, how you like your coffee and how you like your toast done in the morning. It knows this because you bought the latest, greatest refrigerator, toaster and coffee maker for your home. Each has the capability to learn how it is most used. The refrigerator scans bar-codes as you put items in. These appliances use Bluetooth or some other RFID to access a secure database through the Internet. This database is then accessed by your hotel room appliances when you check-in. In the morning, when you wake up, your coffee is made just how you like it, and your toast is cooked.

• Your dog ran away. For a moment, you panicked, but then you remembered you had that new chip implanted (or a new collar put on) with an RFID signal. Before you know it, you’re pulling up findyourbestfriend.com, logging in and locating your dog. How? Sensors findyourbestfriend.com implanted onto the local power lines picked up the signal and reported it back to the company’s servers. The servers triangulate the position from sensor data and GPS feeds, then place it into your browsing window. You go get your dog.

• You can’t wait for the next big action movie, “Vampire Fraternity Followers of Dogbert” to come out. You just got off the movie’s blog, where the producers informed everyone that post-production is done. A few years ago, it still had a few months to go. The movie had to be copied to film or DVD and distributed. Because of the proliferation of Gigabit Ethernet, and the bill that was to abolish Net Neutrality was defeated, your local movie theater will be showing a streaming, HD projection of the movie, complete with previews and a few ads, in about a half an hour. Better get moving, if you want a great seat for seeing Dogbert lead his army of vampire frat boys against a world full of “blasted simpletons.”

The web is becoming a reflection of, and enhancement to, our world. It connects us, binds us, enables us and empowers us. The next step is for it to embrace us. Integration of Internet technologies into everyday life that does not involve a desktop or even a mobile/cell/PDA – how about stock control of your fridge via RFID and live links to online grocery stores? Or recipe ideas straight to your cooker based on what you cook? Essentially, bridging the gap between all the devices we currently use independent of the Web where there’s real value to be delivered to the enduser. This is the future.

Source:

The State of Web Development 2006/2007, SitePoint Pty Ltd. and Ektron, Inc., August 2006. Available at http://www.sitepoint.com/launch/survey06/