Hat tip to Marnie Webb for pointing to this pithy summary by Troy Angringon of what's happening as we move from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0. I'll condense it further below, but you really should read the whole thing, particularly because he wraps up with a hilarious 17-step approach to websites that begins as follows:
- why do I need a website? I don't need a website
- Okay, I need it as a business card at a minimum so I'll just put up a one-pager
- Hmmm, make that a brochure site with sections because I have a lot of stuff to talk about
- Boy, this is a lot of work to keep this thing running
OK, so here are Troy Angringon's Web 1.0 and 2.0 characteristics in condensed table form:
| From Web 1.0 | To Web 2.0 |
| Pages (i.e. actual HTML files) | Database soup & on-the-fly HTML |
| Human readable | Machine and human readable |
| Content and format are integral | Content is separated from format/design |
| Indexed haphazardly | Indexed instantaneously |
| High threshold to get content in place | Low threshold to get content in place |
| Difficult to tell what's changed on the site | Readily apparent what's changed on the site |
| Push via email list | Pull via RSS |
| Not scalable | Hugely scalable |
