There were about five years between the Dot-com bubble (which had officially "burst" by 2001) and the ubiquity of Web 2.0 (whose roots began earlier but really came into mainstream by 2006). During those five years, people realized true strength of the internet as they utilized standardized formats like XML and RSS, service-oriented web applications, user-controlled data, and, of course, the social aspect of the internet. We've seen the rise of social networks, the appearance of some pretty interactive web applications, and overall, the integration of the online world and your personal information flow. If you were freelancing during these five years, you probably had your share of work on blogs, social-based sites, Flash, or web applications. Furthermore, you could (and still can) make a pretty good living by just focusing on being a good designer or developer.
So the question is, what about the next five years of website freelancing? And how will they affect your average freelance designer or developer? Here are five predictions...
