ls are improving. But as sites get bigger and more complex, the need for these tools to work better with each other will increase."
A fundamental difference between old-style applications and dynamic Web applications is who creates them and the pace at which new applications are introduced. Before, applications were built by teams of programmers, and months or years could pass before the release of the next version. But a survey conducted by Forrester (
see the chart
) shows that today's Web development team includes positions in a company ranging from programmers to marketing personnel. "Web applications are fundamentally different from any other applications that are getting built today," says Rowland Archer, chief operating officer at HAHT Software (Raleigh, NC), a maker of application deve
lopment and deployment tools. "As the Web makes the move from an advertising medium to an application platform, this difference will matter even more." Tools geared toward programmers or creators of content just don't address the big picture by themselves.
This is why analyst Bernoff predicts vendors will increasingly adopt a strategy of integrated
tool suites
that address Web developers' diverse needs. Today, developers can pick from a variety of tools that address certain aspects of a Web site's needs. For example, Astra, from Mercury Interactive (Sunnyvale, CA), addresses site analysis, usage tracking, and link management. Ringmaster, from Ikonic (San Francisco), coordinates content among Webmasters, editors, and authors.
Rick Fleischman, senior product manager for tools at Netscape (Mountain View, CA), says these tools generally have one of three goals: creation of core page elements such as graphics and Java or multimedia applications; site assembly that integrates content a
nd these various applications and provides functionality like live database access or electronic commerce; and site/content management and deployment.
Each category has tools with capabilities that cross over into another category, however. For example, Microsoft's FrontPage 97 offers WYSIWYG page layout tools, but the program also has site management and content creation tools (Image Composer that comes with the FrontPage Bonus Pack). The site-assembly category has the widest variation, ranging from WYSIWYG page-layout tools to enterprise application-deployment tools. HAHT Software's HAHTsite 2.0 is an example of this latter category. It has a Windows-based integrated development environment that incorporates other vendors' tools; its application server runs on multiple operating systems and can integrate with existing third-party client/server platforms such as SAP.
Forrester's Bernoff predicts that tools will continue to improve this year and says you can also expect the currently fragmented market
to consolidate into partnerships or around platforms. One such platform is Netscape One, an open network environment based on publicly defined standards that lets developers create tools that work with each other. Netscape and Silicon Graphics (SGI, Mountain View, CA), which already offer the LiveWire and Cosmo suites of tools, respectively, will also improve their offerings, either by developing new products or by acquiring products from other companies. Microsoft, which is developing Internet Studio, will play a major role in the suite trend, and so may Adobe and Macromedia. Adobe will probably focus on creating tools that integrate with Microsoft's and Netscape's environments, and Macromedia will concentrate on video, interactive Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML), and animation, Bernoff says. SGI's current focus on its own hardware may turn away potential customers who want Mac or Windows solutions.
In the meantime, developers can seek relief from tools that are improving. Builders of database-
connected sites should check out products from HAHT, NeXT (Redwood Shores, CA), and others that avoid Common Gateway Interface (CGI). It's also smart to budget for constant tool turnover to avoid getting locked into products as vendors' fortunes ebb and flow.
The good news about all these bewildering options is that competition among vendors is fierce. "Prices will come down, and performance and features will escalate at a much faster pace than you've ever seen before," says John McCrae, marketing manager for SGI's Cosmo suite. "Customers will end up with better, less expensive products and better content."
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HAHT Software's HAHTsite 2.0 typifies new Web tools that integrate a wide variety of functions.
Web Tools Will Converge
