The hottest trend in Web technology goes by the name Web 2.0, pronounced "Web Two Dot Oh."

What's Web 2.0 mean?

The concept is new, so definitions vary widely. The best way to understand Web 2.0 is to examine a Web 2.0 site. Consider Digg.com, a site that has rocketed in the span of 11 months from obscurity to one of the top 50 most visited sites on the Internet in North America.

Here's the splash page for Digg.

Click on it and explore these features.

• The site uses the same technology found in Google's GMail; that is, standard Extensible Markup Language and JavaScript. Almost anyone with some programming experience can create similar pages.
• A script that allows a visitor to the site to click on a news item and view the story. But there's one key difference, each "click" flips the counter to show the popularity of the news item.
• A series of special features available to subscribers. These include snippets of code to make it easy to suggest a story for the Digg system to process, for example.

Why is this a Web 2.0 application? Well, let's review what the difference is between the Digg service and a more traditional news page like the one from ABC News.

Did you notice that ABC News does not allow you, the user, to suggest stories. Digg, like many Web 2.0 browser-based applications, gives you an opportunity to interact with the information on the Web site. So ABC News tells you what's news. Digg lets the news with the most clicks -- or Diggs as the service calls them -- bubble up.

Second, the site is flat. There is no easy way to dive into the information, see what's news, what's popular or attracting the most clicks. Digg is alive. Hit the refresh button from almost any Digg page and the system displays in real time, the freshest information.

Finally, did you spot the Digg list of popular topics in the "cloud view." The cloud view shows the current Digg topics in different size type. The larger the type, the more Diggs the topic is getting. Click on the cloud view below and explore the cloud view, a device used by other popular Web 2.0 services such as Flickr (a Yahoo! service) and del.icio.us (also a Yahoo! service).

Learn More about Web 2.0 Services

You don't need to know how to program Web 2.0 services. You just need to have some familiarity with the dynamic and personalized functions that Web 2.0 permits. Explore these resources, and if you find them interesting, give Intellas a call. Our professionals can help you implement your own Web 2.0 service.

What Can You Do with Web 2.0?

A wide range of functions can be developed with Web 2.0 technology. Here's a list of examples to ignite your thinking.

• Put dynamic news on your site so your visitors can click on a specific item to permit a hot list to emerge over time
• Add user interactivity to specific parts of your Web site; for example, an input form to allow your site's visitors to other useful sites
• Offer your site's visitors access to online file sharing, online data storage, and similar utility services without having to navigate away from your site's pages.

Intellas technologists can work with you to create these and other features. Give us a call. If your company is anchored in hardware, software engineering, network services, programming, or closely-related fields, why not contact Intellas? We can keep you abreast of the latest in technology and business trends live and in person.