Wikipedia describes web development as “a broad term for the work involved in developing a web site for the Internet (World Wide Web) or an intranet (a private network).” Further, web development can also be defined as a collection of activities that include encryption or coding of programming languages into well defined codes to achieve an application that can be executed over the web and offer desired functionality. Some of the most popular and widely practiced divisions in a web development company include website designing, e-commerce development, web server configuration and content development.

The Beginning: Since early nineties, web development industry has been among the fastest growing industries. According to the formal statistics there were around 1000 web development companies in United States alone in year 1995. This number grew up to 30,000 by year 2005 and is now growing at an exponential rate. It speaks for the vast opportunities and potential in this industry. One of the major factors behind the early on success of this technology was the interest and confidence shown by large organizations and big enterprises. By taking their business on the web and trusting a web development company with their online projects they displayed strong confidence in their services and the future of the web.

Further, the cost of developing websites was one of major factor that hindered small and medium scale enterprises from opting for the services of a web development company. Initially, a web development company would have charged around $15000 for just developing simple website with normal functionality. Further, the cost may increase according to the complexity and the nature of the website. However, now organizations can get simple websites developed by a professional and experienced web development company in as less $1500-$2000. These prices may differ according to the quality of services offered by the web development company. Now organizations and individuals can attempt online solutions for their requirements by spending very less capital.

Security Issues and moral responsibility: Everything has some advantages and some drawbacks. One of the biggest risk with web development is security and data theft issues. It is now a well known fact that there will be some security issues in the web applications even after the testing and development phase. The major issue is that it is not very difficult to do so as much knowledge is not required to do so. With little knowledge anyone can use scripts to illegally access users confidential information such as passwords, credit card information etc. It is the duty of web development companies to implement most effective solutions and use best technologies to insure a risk free web environment. Security issues should be identified as soon as they occur and proper steps should be taken to correct them and restrict them from happening again in the future.

Web development industry has performed much better and has impacted more than it was expected from it. Every web & php development company must know that this is a constantly growing segment with requirements and technologies changing on a regular basis. It is unavoidable to adapt according to the new technology and web development service providers must keep themselves updated.