How the Web has evolved and where we are going

Web 1.0

This was the internet of content: websites were simple static texts, like the pages of a book or Word documents. They also contained images or videos, but their purpose was purely informational, with no interaction between user and content. Sites were made of pages full of hypertext (links to other pages), forming a structure like a huge book.

Web 1.5

The web becomes dynamic, letting users interact with it. The transformation began with the ability to post comments; then, with new programming languages (PHP), the first forums and blogs were created.

Web 2.0 (a term coined by Tim O'Reilly), or the dynamic web

Communities and social networks evolve, wikis appear (where users can find, edit and add information; Wikipedia is an example): in short, the web moves further and further towards interaction with users. Web 2.0 is us, or at least the part of us that has agreed to share information, comments and ideas with millions of other people (users) through posts on blogs and social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter), videos (YouTube) and photos (Flickr).

Web 3.0 (the web of semantics and things), or the Web Database

An increasingly semantic web, because everything is tied to the keywords linked to documents (texts, videos, images, sounds) and every search relies on those words. An artificial intelligence that, thanks to ever more sophisticated algorithms, helps us find our way in an ever more crowded network. A big difference from Web 2.0 is the birth of the cloud and the use of scalable vector graphics (SVG), which make software and websites usable on mobile devices too.

Towards Web 4.0

1. 3D Web: an interactive, three-dimensional virtual space you can use from the browser. Remember Second Life? That's it.
2. Empowered Web: a term coined to describe certain sociological and technological phenomena that have given the Web more power to influence reality than any other information channel. In effect, a sociological product based on the technology that generated it: the Web as the one true mass medium.
3. Augmented reality: overlaying a computer-generated virtual reality on the reality perceived by the user. The user's perception of the world is "augmented" by virtual objects that provide extra information about the real environment, like the reality generated by Google Glass.

These 3 branches, together with the semantic web, work in synergy and do not exclude each other, but each of them could also succeed on its own.

Web 4.5

It will be an environment where we can perceive holograms with our senses. There is already some progress in this direction (in the next article I'll explain how to create holograms easily, without spending a cent, with your smartphone or tablet).

Web 5.0

Everything will be holographic, including the senses. In web 5.0 we will be able to interact with holograms through special suits (or perhaps without them): it will all feel very real.

So, dear readers, let's open our minds: the future awaits!