For larger organizations and businesses, web development
teams can consist of hundreds of people (web developers) and follow standard
methods like Agile methodologies while developing websites.Smaller
organizations may only require a single permanent or contracting developer, or
secondary assignment to related job positions such as a graphic designer and/or
information systems technician. Web development may be a collaborative effort
between departments rather than the domain of a designated department.
Since the commercialization of the web, web development has
been a growing industry. The growth of this industry is being pushed especially
by businesses wishing to sell products and services to online customers.
For tools and platforms, the public can use many open source
systems to aid in web development. A popular example, the LAMP (Linux, Apache,
MySQL, PHP) stack is available for download online free of charge. This has
kept the cost of learning web development to a minimum. Another contributing
factor to the growth of the industry has been the rise of easy-to-use WYSIWYG
web-development software, most prominently Adobe Dreamweaver, WebDev, and
Microsoft Expression Studio. Using such software, virtually anyone can
relatively quickly learn to develop a very basic web page. Knowledge of
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) or of programming languages is still required
to use such software, but the basics can be learned and implemented quickly
with the help of help files, technical books, internet tutorials, or
face-to-face training.
An ever growing set of tools and technologies have helped
developers build more dynamic and interactive websites. 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 can interact 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 can interact with
applications from many locations, instead of being tied to a specific
workstation for their application environment.