Web development is a broad term for the work involved in developing a
web site for the
Internet (
World Wide Web) or an
intranet (a private network). Web development can range from developing the simplest static single page of
plain text to the most complex web-based
internet applications,
electronic businesses, and
social network services. A more comprehensive list of tasks to which web development commonly refers, may include
web design,
web content development, client liaison,
client-side/
server-side scripting,
web server and
network security configuration, and
e-commerce development. Among web professionals, "web development" usually refers to the main non-design aspects of building web sites: writing
markup and
coding. Most recently Web development has come to mean the creation of content management systems or CMS. These CMS can be made from scratch, proprietary (such as OpenText), or open source (such as
Drupal). In broad terms the CMS acts as middleware between the database and the user through the browser. A principle benefit of a CMS is that it allows non-technical people to make changes to their Web site without having technical knowledge.