How to Build a Web 2.0 Site
Web 2.0 is an expression that occurs commonly within Internet contexts. Rather than being a specific technology, Web 2.0 refers to a number of techniques that are used within websites. Generally, Web 2.0 sites are interactive and collaborative in one or more ways. A Web 2.0 site is one that facilitates a high level of user interaction, in many cases where users are actually contributing to the website content. You can incorporate Web 2.0 features into your website in many different ways. Naturally the Web 2.0 features that you include will relate to the general purpose of your website. In general, Web users have become accustomed to such a level of interactivity that many recent sites have Web 2.0 features.
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Instructions
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Use Client and Server Side technologies to make your site as interactive as possible. A dynamic site with which users are interacting rather than simply reading or viewing the content is what Web 2.0 principles are focused on. Use JavaScript and interactive CSS properties to make the controls and elements in your Web pages respond as the user moves around the site. Using AJAX or jQuery functions can also greatly enhance the interactivity within your site. Consider page elements that use AJAX, in conjunction with Server technologies such as PHP, to continually update with information from the Server, for example news feeds.
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Include links to social media such as social networks and social bookmarking tools. The people visiting your site will likely have joined one or more social networking sites, for example Facebook or MySpace, and may additionally use tools such as Twitter for communicating and Digg, Delicious and StumbleUpon to share the content they discover while browsing. This can potentially expose your site to a huge number of people, and is key to the way people browse the Web today. There are many free tools you can use to add social networking links to your site, such as AddThis. Many CMS programs also have automated facilities for adding these elements.
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Allow users to contribute content to your site. Allowing visitors to your site to make some sort of lasting contribution to it is one of the main Web 2.0 techniques. This can be done in many ways. Common examples are the inclusion of comments sections within your site's content pages, the ability for users to rate the content in some way, and simple polls that users can take part in. These elements give you a level of feedback that you can use to inform future development within your site. If you are allowing contributions of any kind, try to give the contributors instant feedback where possible.
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Build collaborative features in your site. There are many ways to create collaborative websites, such as forums and "wikis." A collaborative feature is basically one whose content is the result of communication between users of the site. This means that your site will involve the ability of users to have some sort of dialogue with one another. A key element in Web 2.0 development is the creation of communities associated with a site. Naturally, the overall purpose of your site will determine which type of collaborative feature it might contain.
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Organize your website content so that it can be navigated in different ways. Using tags to organize your content is a common Web 2.0 practice, and means that you can use those tags as part of your site navigation. Today's Web users are accustomed to being able to access the content in a site through means other than a traditional menu layout. Tag clouds built in Flash and other Client Side technologies are a common way of achieving this, and add another level of interactivity with your site. This also allows people to get at the content they are particularly interested in quickly and in a way that suits them.
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Tips & Warnings
There are many freely available tools that will help you to create a Web 2.0 site. From JavaScript libraries to Content Management Systems and Blog programs, it makes sense to use these expertly developed resources to build a professional website that is focused on the user.
Try not to become preoccupied with terms such as "Web 2.0" when you're developing websites. These techniques are used to enhance the value of a site, rather than to form its main purpose.
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