Why web design is becoming increasingly important

I know of several programmers who are completely disinterested in the web aspect of programming and design in general. Their disinterest stems from the lack of knowledge of how powerful and portable well designed web apps can be. Not only that, a seasoned coder can even use a server-side application written in their favorite language and pass that information onto a web-based front end. But without going into that discussion too much, let’s examine some of points I want to make:

...and then, there were four!

With Firefox claiming over 20% of the browser market share, and the recent addition of Google Chrome to the browser scene, things are beginning to heat up. Web browsers are becoming more and more capable, with record benchmarks in JavaScript performance and new web standards — and with the fairly recent shift of users from Internet Explorer to Firefox and other more web-compliant browsers, this means a lot.

Here’s a look at the benchmarks (lower is better):

Image courtesy of www.computerworld.com

With speed increases in JavaScript, improved web standards, and further developed scripting languages like PHP, the web is becoming a more viable solution for application development, which means it’s only going to grow as a platform for developers.

The web browser department isn’t the only place seeing improvement — high speed internet seems like it is becoming the norm as well. With more and more people jumping to broadband internet access, and ISPs like Comcast offering double the speeds for free, this can only mean more possibilities for content, services, and apps on the web.

Also, there is still a lot of things that have not yet been done on the web. It is far more difficult to find something that has not yet been done on the desktop than it is to find something on the web that hasn’t been done before. The web is also becoming increasingly more accessible, with new internet users everyday. The combination of the broadening market and undeveloped web apps makes web design even more valuable.

And then, let’s just remember the beauty of web design: web apps are highly portable, websites/web apps are easily customizable through the use of standard HTML/CSS practices, and the web is a great way for users to interact with information presented to them… and with the combination of both programming and web design, the possibilities are seemingly endless.

PS. If you have any extra points to add to this article, please share =)