Web 6.0, Mobile Web 4.0

01 Oct 2007

I hate "Web 2.0" and really, really hate "Mobile Web 2.0". They are bastard marketing expressions used by me toos hoping to offer the next digg (but faster!) or have just worked out you can view web content on your mobile.

In terms of technological innovation, I think we are actually sitting around Web 6.0 and Mobile Web 4.0 give or take a point upgrade here and there:

Web Versions

Web 1.0

Christmas 1990, Tim Berners-Lee kicks it all off with text and hyperlinks.

Web 2.0

1993, Mosaic 1.0 is released with support for inline images. The buzz begins.

Web 3.0

1995, Netscape Navigator 2.0 introduces LiveScript, later known as JavaScript. Client-side interactivity begins and I build my first JavaScript minesweeper.

Web 4.0

1996, Microsoft Internet Explorer 3 adds support for Cascading Style Sheets. Style and content can diverge but rarely does.

Web 5.0

1997, Netscape Navigator 4.0 introduces Dynamic HTML. Interactivity without a massive document.write but so buggy many nights I should have spent sleeping were instead spent trying to find workarounds for that bloody browser.

Web 6.0

1999, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 adds support for designMode and XMLHttpRequest, the WYSIWYG and AJAX foundation of most "Web 2.0" apps. That's right, this technology has been around since 1999.

Mobile Web Versions

Mobile Web 1.0

1996, Handheld Device Markup Language. Used by nobody.

Mobile Web 2.0

1999, Docomo's launches i-mode and cut-down HTML. All mobile web developers owe Docomo a pat on the back for this one. Wireless Markup Language also shows up in 1999 but goes nowhere.

Mobile Web 3.0

2001, XHTML MP specs add support for CSS and the media property allows developers to easily branch content. Some mobile browsers do a fairly good job at this but most are just too temperamental to warrant a complete shift to CSS.

Mobile Web 4.0

2006, the browser in S60 3rd Edition expands JavaScript and CSS support including AJAX. The mobile web catches up with its immobile sibling.