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Web Developer

Web developers design, build and maintain new websites and upgrade existing ones in line with their clients' needs. Developers work in all sectors of industry, commerce, local government and education. Some examples of their work might include online shopping sites, virtual learning environments (VLEs) for a college and company intranets for staff use.

As a developer, you would normally work on projects made up of several phases. You might be responsible for the entire process, or brought in to deal with a particular phase. In each phase you would:

• work with the client, using site simulations to see which ideas best suit their needs
• build the framework – or 'architecture' – of the site and put in the command buttons, payment systems and video, sound or animation
• make sure that the new site can be smoothly integrated into the client's existing network, for instance linking with a customer database
• work on the site's appearance, often with a web designer
• put in measures to deal with user access and security
• test the site under construction to find and fix any problems – or 'bugs' – before it goes 'live'.
 
Once you have built the site, you may continue to make minor changes to make sure the entire site is working properly and meets all the client's needs. Depending on the contract, you may continue to manage and maintain the site once it is up and running.
Web development as an industry

Since the mid-1990s, web development has been one of the fastest growing industries in the world. In 1995 there were fewer than 10,000 web development companies in the United States alone, but by 2005 there were over 30,000 such companies.[1][citation needed] The web development industry is expected to grow over 20% by 2010. The growth of this industry is being pushed by large businesses wishing to sell products and services to their customers and to automate business workflow, as well as the growth of many small web design and development companies.

In addition, cost of Web site development and hosting has dropped dramatically during this time. Instead of costing tens of thousands of dollars, as was the case for early websites, one can now develop a simple web site for less than a thousand dollars, depending on the complexity and amount of content.[citation needed] Smaller Web site development companies are now able to make web design accessible to both smaller companies and individuals further fueling the growth of the web development industry. As far as web development tools and platforms are concerned, there are many systems available to the public free of charge to aid in development.

 A popular example is the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP), which is usually distributed free of charge. This fact alone has manifested into many people around the globe setting up new Web sites daily and thus contributing to increase in web development popularity. Another contributing factor has been the rise of easy to use WYSIWYG web development software, most prominently Microsoft FrontPage or Adobe Dreamweaver. Using such software, virtually anyone can develop a Web page in a matter of minutes. Knowledge of HyperText Markup Language (HTML), or other programming languages is not required, but recommended for professional results.

The next generation of web development tools uses the strong growth in LAMP and Microsoft .NET technologies to provide the Web as a way to run applications online. Web developers now help to deliver applications as Web services which were traditionally only available as applications on a desk based computer.
Instead of running executable code on a local computer, users are interacting with online applications to create new content. This has created new methods in communication and allowed for many opportunities to decentralize information and media distribution. Users are now able to interact with applications from many locations, instead of being tied to a specific workstation for their application environment.

Examples of dramatic transformation in communication and commerce led by web development include e-commerce. Online auction sites such as eBay have changed the way consumers consume and purchase goods and services. Online resellers such as Amazon.com and Buy.com (among many, many others) have transformed the shopping and bargain hunting experience for many consumers. Another good example of transformative communication led by web development is the blog. Web applications such as WordPress and b2evolution have created easily implemented blog environments for individual Web sites.