Traditional Web Development

Traditional Web development methodologies are often sequential, involving a series of steps or phases.  In software development, traditional Web development was a direct reaction to the “code and fix” approach that was very popular in the 1960s, wherein programmers and developers spend time to first code the program and then debug it. It was a difficult and time consuming approach to software development.

One of the more popular traditional Web development methodologies is the waterfall approach.  This approach involves a structured progression from one phase to the next.  The waterfall approach begins with the system’s operational requirements or what the software, application or Web site would do, as well as the environment it would use to run.  After the requirements are laid out, programmers and developers would then plan out how the software or the application will be designed.

Up next is when the programmers and Web developers would write the actual code for the software or application, the user interface and reports also crop up in this stage.  It will then go to the next phase, the testing stage.  In the testing stage, all defects and kinks are ironed out, user feedback is solicited, and scripts are tested.  Everything is taken into consideration.

The final stage is focused on implementation.  In this stage, the final product is deployed and training and documentation are undertaken.

Another traditional Web development methodology is the Unified Process which organizes all work flows and is implemented in increments.  The projects go through four stages: inception, elaboration, construction and transition.  These stages very much follow the stages in the waterfall methodology.

In this methodology, the inception and elaboration are considered the planning stages.  In the construction stage, the development team is expected to produce a beta-release of the software or application.  This release, although incomplete, should be sufficient enough to allow for testing the product under realistic conditions.

After the tests are carried out, the software or Web application is then introduced to the users, this is called the transition stage.

The last of the widely used traditional methodologies is the spiral model, which has four main stages: objective-setting, risk management, development and validation, and planning.  An offshoot and a result of refining the waterfall model, the spiral model is often used in large projects.

Generally, traditional Web development strategies aim to make the development process more predictable and manageable, and more efficient.  It has over the years failed, and has been criticized as being bureaucratic, with its various and numerous processes and documentations slowing down the whole development process.  These methodologies often take a long time in planning out a large part of the development process. Also, these plans are often in painstakingly great detail and cover a long span of time.  Another aspect that slows the development process is the amount of documentation required for each stage.  To say that the amount of paperwork, approvals and what-nots are overwhelming is an understatement.

Moreover, traditional Web development methodologies tend to be process oriented, with each process broken down into tasks assigned to each member of the team.  Each task has a well defined system and procedure to follow.  It also puts more emphasis on the tools used rather than skills needed for the project at each stage.

Because of this, traditional Web development methodologies are often resistant to change.   This inflexibility becomes a problem because at one point in time, requirements for the program will change, whether voluntarily (like when a customer changes his or her mind about what he or she wants) or involuntarily (like when there are critical parameters unforeseen in the planning stage).  The bureaucratic nature of these methodologies, coupled with the emphasis on strict procedures and copious amount of documentation, also paves the way to longer development time and higher costs in completing the project.  Further, due to the fact that customer feedback is only solicited at the end stages of the development, the software or Web application often does not address every need of the user, or may have features that are not usable for him or her.

In short, traditional Web development just does not deliver when it comes to creating applications for the Web.  Limitations — like its inflexibility and rigidness, longer development time, costliness, as well as not being able to deliver software with full or optimized functionality — make it inherently unsuitable in a highly competitive and constantly dynamic area like Web development.