Why the Web Is Here to Stay
Allure of going online for the first time? Nothing quite like it…
Many thanks to Marissa “Reese” Wood from Mozilla for discussion & debate on these topics.
At age of 30 (by some accounts), world wide web is going through a mid-life crisis. Obviated. Disrupted. Irrelevant… All but extinct — as internet becomes a “planet of the apps”. Number of websites seems to be plateauing… and might start dropping soon?
This picture — is woefully incomplete.
Knowing why, and where, the web matters — will help you leverage its potential.
1. Web has staying power
Consumer traffic lives mostly in-app. Convenience and popularity of mobile devices have made sure of that. Per user interviews, apps account for ~80% of consumers’ online activity. But, that is only a part of the picture.
Those same consumers, as part of the working population — for eight hours a day on average — engage in professional activities: business, academic, artistic, or otherwise. Where the web still dominates.
Typical use cases for professionals? Compiling information: web sites, articles, data… The web — is where these feel at home.
Busines’ security constraints are another driver. Native apps can be challenging to deploy, maintain, and monitor. Which is anathema to IT managers. Conversely, a web browser can be configured to become a sandboxed environment. Overall, system administrators’ concerns often end up pushing users towards web apps.
As a result — professional world is the mainstay of internet browsing. And, it is where working age consumers spend, on average, eight hour a day.
2. Web is vast and searchable
Sounds trivial, I know. But, think about it for a moment.
Google’s index, arguably the largest, spans individual web pages in “hundreds of billions”. So, let’s pick a number. 400 billion? At dwell time of 15 seconds per page — browsing through would take you 190 thousand years. That’s more than elapsed from emergence of homo sapiens. Context: Netflix’s 30 thousand hours of video content (2017) — at zero breaks, would take a “meager” three years to watch.
Of the web’s content trove — only a minuscule portion will be relevant to you at any given moment. And, that needle in the haystack — can be located, almost instantaneously. As long as content is being hosted as “indexable”, you can find it. Plus, multiple search engines exist — creating some competitive tension. Despite there being a clear #1 — the likes of Bing and DuckDuckGo, are making inroads. We rarely think about it, but as web users —when it comes to search, we have convenience, and choice.
By contrast, the app world often curbs what content you can surface. In-app search requires developer to enable it, and even then — user experience is often lacking. And, relies on you having the app installed in the first place.
3. Web can be eye-candy
Gone are days when web meant boring HTML fields, frames, and onmouseover CSS effects. Frameworks like React, Angular, Vue — have enriched the user experience on the web.
UI parity with apps — even if a gap exists still, it is now very close.
For examples of rich web experiences — check out work by Ali R. Tariq.
4. Web is easy to share
Yes, deep-linking is handy for apps. When it works. Apps evolve quickly, and so do mobile operating systems… all too often, lack of backward compatibility breaks deep links.
For sheer reliability, nothing trumps the hyperlinks for web content. And yes, these can break too — especially for dynamically generated pages. But, the web evolves much more slowly. And, web servers are not constrained by mobile operating system SDKs. So, as long as the server is up — you can access the web content. Otherwise, try Internet Archive, or search engine cache.
5. Web democratizes access to content
Trivial, again. But worth stating.
Got a computer less than 30 years old? Or a phone released in past two decades? Great, you can use the web.
Where will internet’s “next billion users” come from? Most likely: emerging economies, or disenfranchised populations. The web offers them a plethora of content, accessible free of charge — and on any device. All you need is an internet browser. No third-party apps to download.
6. Barriers to web presence are near-null
Web’s building blocks — HTML, CSS and Javascript — are usually the first set of skills acquired by digital creatives. Javascript itself, used on 95% of websites, remains the all-time #1 programming language on Github (granted, its applications exceed user-facing web). And, even before getting into bootcamps and computer science degrees — some of these skills are taught at school.
…which may not even matter. Code-less platforms like Wordpress, GoDaddy, Squarespace, Webflow — allow anyone to establish web presence. Some will say, traffic acquisition becomes a challenge. Well, nice problem to have — focus on content, and ways of promoting it — rather than on launching in the first place.
Finally, economic barriers have come down. You no longer need to manage your own server. You don’t even have to own it — plenty of infrastructure is available in the cloud. No “developer account” required to publish. If you can host it = you can distribute.
For apps, no equal sign here.
7. Web makes you money
Extension of low entry barriers — is freedom to monetize.
Find a way to accept payments — of which there are many — and you’re all set. No “app store tax”. No ecosystem-prescribed monetization avenues. No reviews of your code updates.
Challenges abound. Distribution becomes a concern, as you need a critical mass of paying users. And, for consumer use cases — mobile can actually be the preferred platform. Making native apps the way to go.
But, web remains dominant channel for many. As of October 2019, Shopify powered 1 million merchants, who generated Gross Merchandise Volume of $15bn in Q3 2019. Together, these numbers imply that annual bookings of a Shopify merchant amount to $60k. That average includes developed countries like US, Canada, UK — as well as emerging economies, like India.
…and speaking of making money:
8. Web enables discovery
Imagine you’re looking for a set of wine glasses. Easy enough? Grab your mobile device, launch an app, and start looking up products… But, how do you compare them? Or benchmark prices? Well, good luck going back and forth between apps. And, there’s a special place in hell for whoever made copying and pasting on mobile — what it is now. Users may transact in-app, but the bulk of pre-purchase research — happens on the web.
Tactile nature, full-screen UI… Things that make mobile app interface so good for content consumption — can impede discovery. By contrast, web browsing has evolved into a multi-tabbed experience. Visual cues make it feel effortless. Helicopter view of tabs, easy switching — simplify the user experience: a quick glance is enough. Web’s multi-tabbed experience — may actually mirror human cognition in “discovery mode”: many trails of thought, in parallel.
Shopping is an example. Other use cases include education, activism, recruiting, health… where the web empower its users to discover.
9. Web is the creation engine
Before there is any content to consume — someone needs to craft it. Which very often, happens on the web.
Software repositories — shared on the web. Fun fact: until November 2019, GitHub didn’t have a mobile app. And even now, its functionality is mostly chat and monitoring, rather than coding. Stock photos and video — web-first catalogues. Graphics and design — increasingly within web apps, like Canva. Last but not least, memes usually originate on the web — before starting to trend inside app-based communities.
10. Web’s security — vis in numeris
Not inherent to web itself… but, stemming from its evolution as grassroot, with open standards at core.
Web’s infrastructure is decentralized, without a single gatekeeper. Individual websites can go down, but network itself is, in a good way — too big, and too distributed, to fail. Open source code invites scrutiny, resulting in fewer zero-day vulnerabilities. End result is a patchwork of competing server technologies and browsers. Chaotic, perhaps — which contributes to overall security.
11. Web has granular privacy controls
Browsers move to expand privacy controls, with some clear frontrunners (e.g. Firefox, Brave), and laggards. Plus, web’s architecture as a whole — enables VPNs, supercharging user data protection.
At the same time — for advertisers, ability to track attribution is a welcome feature. That way, ad budgets can be spent efficiently. Some forms of tracking benefit users, too — increasing relevance of content.
Privacy vs. relevance, is a trade-off. The web allows for a customizing your own settings — ultimately, putting the power in user’s hands.
By contrast, for apps — the subject of privacy rarely enters the picture. User has little say over what data is being transmitted. High-level controls exist, with Google and Apple exercising some oversight. However, to this day — you can still see calculator apps requesting access to device GPS.
12. Social at its core
Years before social networking, web users were already looking for ways to connect. Internet forums. Chatrooms (dubbed by some as web derivatives of IRC). Comments under news articles. Shoutboxes and guestbooks (remember those?). Live chat on websites.
Implementations varied in quality — and were often perverted by excessive commercial intent. But, the spirit of connectedness, bringing people together — seems inherent to the web.
Inevitably, the many hallmarks of the web — we currently take for granted. Or, we forget how it really does make the world a better place — by improving access to knowledge, education, and opportunities.
The web can continue to do that, and more. And rekindle that feeling of getting online for the first time.
Many thanks for contributing thoughts to friends from Mozilla, Google, and SomaFM
