In the early days of the web life as a webmaster was quiet simple. This is beacause web sites were simply collections of static pages written in html. There was no streaming video, blogs or Ajax (Asynchronous Javascript). If you knew html and could write decent content then you were considered a webmaster and you would probably be quiet rich today!

Now the situation is much more complicated. Over the years many new technologies have been introduced (Flash, Ajax, Blogs, CMS, RSS, Video, Adobe Air etc) and the modern webmaster and developer must be at least aware of these technologies in order to develop great websites and web applications.

It is still very easy to set up a simple website but it’s now much harder to produce a really great website or application.

Lets look at the main roles involved in developing a modern Website or Rich Internat Application (like google Maps). We should note that in small projects all of these roles may be taken by one multi-talented individual:

Web Designer

The designers role is to decide on the look and feel of the website using their knowledge of graphic design and tools such as Adobe Fireworks and Photoshop. The modern web designer needs to know html, css and graphics design well in order to perform their job well.

The Web Designer is focussed on the three C’s  of Web Design: Composition, Components and Concept.

They also should at least understand how javascript, PHP and Databases are used to build interactive websites.

Web Developer

The web developer is essestially a programmer who specialises in web technologies such as PHP, Javascript, and Ajax. The modern trend is towards developing and deploying applications that can be used across the internet and internally in an organisation using web technologies. Google Maps is a prime example of a web application (which just about everybody quotes). It uses a sophisticated backend map server that provides the user with a rich interactive experience via the browser.

The Web Developer needs to be proficient in developing software using technologies such as Ajax, PHP and Databases.

Web Architect

So what is a Web Architect? Lets look at what tasks the architect performs. This will help in understanding the architects role. There are three primary tasks performed by the architect:

Creating Application Architectures

An application architecture is a framework or template that is used as the basis for the design of an application. Ideally more than one application as this promotes reuse and better apps over time.

Design Solutions

Each project requires a solution that meets the customers requirements in terms of cost, time and effort. The architect will use the Application Architecture as the basis for the production of an application design that meets the customers requirements. Typically there are tradeoffs depending on the cusotmers priorities. The architect needs to be able to communicate these tradeoffs clearly to the customer so that the impacts of these trade-offs can be understood. The design produced should specify clearly:

• the overall structure of the application
• details of the the key components of the application
• details of all interfaces to other systems
• details of user interfces
• and more …

In addition the architect needs to ensure that the design is scalable, performant and highly available.

Consultancy

Architects are often assigned to projects as consultants or mentors to assist the project teams in coming up with good designs for their sites and applications.