Web Technologies
As the World Wide Web develops, the popularity of content-rich web and e-commerce applications continues to grow. Morgan Stanley Research estimates 1.8 billion users connected via the Internet in 2009 [1] and growth in usage remains robust across the globe [2]. Furthermore, computing technologies continue to evolve with high-speed broadband and wider spread 3G networks now penetrating many developing nations [2]. The increased deployment of high-speed mobile networks is also encouraging Internet use on mobile devices in particular [1]. It is expected that “more than one third of European mobile subscribers will be using mobile Internet services by the end of 2013” [3]. Moreover, the report from Morgan Stanley’s research division suggests that the number of mobile Internet users is actually expected to surpass that of desktop users in 2014 [1]. Researchers have defined mobile Internet use in the form of Mobile Data Services (MDS) as “all non-voice services afforded through mobile networks, except for interpersonal SMS exchanges, that the end users can employ whilst mobile” [3]. While improvements in mobile networks remain key to the success of mobile Internet, there are many other influencing factors that continue to drive the uptake of mobile use, primarily: the Global Position System (GPS), improved motion sensing, communication technologies such as Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP), growth in Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms and the global expansion of social media [2].
Figure 1. HTML5 tagline (left) and logo (right)
Until recently, the development and effective deployment of complex, fully interactive web-applications has been hampered by a variety of obstacles [4]. Emerging standards, particularly those pertaining to HTML5 and WebGL are removing many limitations and providing developers with the platforms to transform the web [4]. Through the consensus and support of the broader international community, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) provides standards that define an Open Web Platform (OWP) for application development [5]. Of the many forthcoming standards, the HTML5 standard is commonly highlighted as a major step forward. The new standard complements the existing HTML standards by adding new features aimed at narrowing the distinguishing factors between web and desktop applications [4]. Some of these new features include: Offline Applications, Local Storage, Canvas API, Built-In Audio and Video Support, Asynchronous Script Loading, Drag-and-Drop Support, Context Menus and Cross-Document Messaging [4,5]. Further to the evolution in HTML and CSS standards, there have been significant developments to client-side JavaScript API, particularly those relating to geolocation, XMLHttpRequest and the Document Object Model (DOM) [5].
Figure 2. Some key areas introduced in HTML5