Web Applications in 2008

We've been developing websites and web applications all year, and we wanted to share our thoughts on what we believe will be "hot" from a programming standpoint next year. These are things you should think about for your companies, especially if you already have a development project in mind.

1. Content Management Systems - Yeah yeah, CMS' sound like old hat... but these are really important, and we need to change content on our websites more frequently to stay competitive, they become very cost effective. For instance, let's use the idea of a local band. Many local bands just open up a Myspace account and make it their "homepage." Myspace is basically a fully functional one-page CMS. That's a very cost effective CMS, but a more profitable business may want to explore something more professional.
2. Development Frameworks - We think that frameworks like Ruby and CakePHP are the future of web development. So they'll just gain more popularity in 2008. In the future, it will be out-of-the-question to build custom CMS' from scratch anymore- they'll have to be built using a framework that already exists to be cost effective. Custom CMS systems should ideally be built using one of these frameworks, thus taking out so much of the overhead associated with normal CMS functionality like add/update/delete/view.
3. Mashups - A mashup is basically the idea of collaboration between existing web applications. For example: Google Maps taps into the Craigslist database in order to plot certain real estate. Google Maps is just an application for viewing maps, and Craigslist is just a repository of a lot of random information. But when they work together, you get a mashup. The communication between the apps is usually through an API. Mashups are often closely tied in with AJAX functionality too. Mashups extend the idea of "plug and play" in my mind. If you have a cool web application that has the capacity to make information or services available to other web applications, simply write an API, and other web apps can "plug in" your functionality.
4. Mobile Applications and Websites - Yes, you can use your use your mobile phone to check email, track a package, view movie show times, and more! We think these applications will become more and more popular in the coming years. Here are some cool applications we found: Cheap International Calls from Your Mobile Phone with Gorilla Mobile, Find a Restaurant with your Mobile Phone with Restaurant Row, Launch TV Video on your Phone with Cool Stream, access your PC or MAC from you cell phone with Soonr, and there are literally hundreds of other mobile applications being launched every month. Use your imagination and see if you can find a mobile application which makes sense for your business.