The Evolution of the WWW: From Web1 to Web2

The internet has changed a lot since it first started, and now it has become an essential part of our day-to-day lives, helping us find information, helping us connect with people worldwide, easing and helping in our day-to-day tasks, and having fun.

The internet we use today wasn’t always like this. The journey began with Web 1.0, a quite read-only world, and then it has gone through many changes over time and moved into Web 2.0, where everyone can join in. Now let’s explore how the internet evolved, looking at what made each version special, how it improved time to time, and the challenges that come along with it. This article helps you understand why people are now excited about the next Web 3.0. 

What was Web 1.0?

In 1989, Tim Berners Lee, a scientist at CERN, came up with a solution for people to share information using a technology called the World Wide Web. At that time, it was just for scientists to swap notes with themselves, but soon it became public in the early 1990s. AT that time, it was live with browsers like Netscape, Navigator, where people could visit simple websites, kind of a digital library, where you can view a book or notes, but not write anything on them.

Web 1.0 Key Features

Static Page:  No interaction in the website, fixed content, unchanging pages. The information on the website was written by a group of people or an organization, and visitors could only look at it.

Limited Interaction: Visitors have limited access, cannot make any changes in the content, and cannot read any books or a brochure.

Design Tools: Pages are developed using languages like HTML, with frames to organize pictures and text. 

Revenue: It started with a few simple options for advertisements and revenue. Earlier, it had options for placing banners from which the website makes money.

Reference websites: Earlier sites like Britannica Online turned an encyclopedia into a digital one, where viewers can read the content but not have any options to edit. In Early 1995, Amazon started its bookstore on the internet.

Back in 1995, the internet was rapidly growing, and DOT COM brought excitement, jumping to millions of websites by 2000, but in 2001, many of the ideas didn’t last anymore. At that time, Web 1.0 was very limited, content didn’t get updated often, a lot of privacy and security which felt like one-way, like notes, lectures that could only be used by tech-savvy folks. But few of the bigger players build their foundation by making information easy for all. 

Web 1.0 Limitations:
The experience was very limited, minimal, and one-sided. People can’t communicate or exchange their thoughts or ideas on most of the sites. It looks like just a bigger library where people can get the information and read books, but can’t contribute or add new information or ideas.

A new Era, Web 2.0

In the Early 2000s, Web2 was known for the” read-write” web, which made the web much more interactive, helping the users not just read but also create many new possibilities. Web2 comes with faster internet and new tools like AJAX, which change everything. During a conference in 2004, Tim O’Reilly coined the term, marking a shift to a more social internet, turning the web into a two-way street where people can now connect, create, and interact with each other.

Web 2.0 brought a drastic change in website use, with tools like XML and RSS to share updates. Till then, the  Internet was easily accessible on a mobile phone, which made it easy to stay online, share economy, think of ride sharing, and home rental.

Sites like Wikipedia, where anyone can edit, or YouTube, where anyone can upload their video visible to all. Back in 2004, Facebook started, and in 2006, it became public for all to use. In 2006, Twitter started connecting friends and strangers to talk worldwide, and while Google Maps made exploring interactive. In 2004, Gmail launched its cloud-based app, and in 2007 iPhone made mobile web a daily life for every user. Back in 2010, over 2 billion people came online, all thanks to social media, and made life more connected, sparking the creator economy, where bloggers and vloggers started earning money from their contributions to the internet and connected people worldwide.

Web 2.0 Key Features:

User-Generated Content: Individuals could contribute, create, and share their information in a much more efficient way. Platforms like Wikipedia allow them to contribute articles, and  YouTube allows them to create content and upload it publicly.

Interactive Websites: Websites became more interactive and dramatic, which means people could reload the web faster and more smoothly.

Social Media: Platforms like Facebook, Twitter helped connect millions of people, where people can share photos, videos, and messages.

Web Applications: Instead of simple pages, websites started offering services like online email (Gmail), document editing (Google Docs), or video streaming (YouTube).

RSS and Feeds: Individuals could now subscribe the get the updates from their favorite sites,

Mobile App: The Mobile app makes life easy and helps users get connected for booking rides and, place to stay. 

Web 2.0 Advantage: Individuals can now start contributing their content, connect with others, and participate in any of the community online easily, which can deliver more personalized content and services. 

Centralization & Privacy Issues: The big companies control the popular platforms that store and have control over the user data and show personalized ads, and use the information without any consent.

What’s Next?

After Web 2.0, the internet is now moving forward with Web 3.0, which aims to fix the privacy concerns. The new technology implementation can help users to have more control over their data.