Web development, I struggle to define?

by Chris M on April 4, 2008 in Code, Industry News with 3 Comments Tweet

Being in an industry which revolves around web development, I often find myself and others assuming that web development refers to the actual development, in terms of programming, of a website or web application. There is nothing wrong with this description, but is it actually the correct description or is it an industry stereo typed catch phrase?

I’ve always seen web development as the development of the www, and what I mean by this is how the web is actually being developed, not necessarily the programming behind it, but how the world wide web is evolving and changing.

What brought this topic to mind was the title of the SA Blog Award – Best SA Blog about Technology / Web Development / Computers. Does this refer to blog posts about actual development, as in code, or does it refer to posts about how the web is evolving and being developed?

I would really love to hear what everyone thinks about this..

Chris M

Christopher is the founder of iMod - Most of his time is spent building websites and pushing the limits with Search Engine Optimization. You can follow him on Twitter @ChristopherM

3 Comments on "Web development, I struggle to define?"

1. Miguel says:

   April 4, 2008 at 8:54 am

   That’s an interesting distinguishment you made there. Usually when I think web development I include everything that is required to delevop a successfull website or web application. So it will include design, programming, marketing, strategy, etc.
   But thinking about the actually words that should actually be called website/application development. Web development would then be concerned with the bigger picture of the WWW and it’s development in terms of infrastructure, standards, trends, etc.
   But then again these things are as interlinked and diverse as human interests.
2. Mike says:

   April 4, 2008 at 10:14 am

   What Miguel said is quite true.. I generally tell people I do web development which encompasses the coding, setting up, marketing etc (excluding the design)

   I guess it’s evolving a bit from majority of the public thinking “oh you do computers” seeing a technician, coder, software architect etc. all as the same thing… ;)
3. Chris M says:

   April 4, 2008 at 1:32 pm

   I looked on Wikipedia before I wrote the post and Wikipedia describes it more as just the coding side of things, which I find really interesting.

   Thanks for the comments guys, I was hoping that this topic would drive some interesting discussions..