Unlike predecessors such as HyperCard, the World Wide Web was non-proprietary, making it possible to develop servers and clients independently and to add extensions without licensing restrictions.

Computer users, who save time and money, and who gain conveniences and entertainment, may or may not have surrendered the right to privacy in exchange for using a number of technologies including the Web. Worldwide, more than a half billion people have used a social network service, and of Americans who grew up with the Web, half created an online profile and are part of a generational shift that could be changing norms.

Among services paid for by advertising, Yahoo! could collect the most data about users of commercial websites, about 2,500 bits of information per month about each typical user of its site and its affiliated advertising network sites. Yahoo! was followed by MySpace with about half that potential and then by AOL-TimeWarner, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and eBay.

JavaScript, on the other hand, is a scripting language that was initially developed for use within Web pages. The standardized version is ECMAScript.

While its name is similar to Java, JavaScript was developed by Netscape and has very little to do with Java, although the syntax of both languages is derived from the C programming language. In conjunction with a Web page's Document Object Model (DOM), JavaScript has become a much more powerful technology than its creators originally envisioned.[citation needed] The manipulation of a page's DOM after the page is delivered to the client has been called Dynamic HTML (DHTML), to emphasize a shift away from static HTML displays.

In simple cases, all the optional information and actions available on a JavaScript-enhanced Web page will have been downloaded when the page was first delivered. Ajax ("Asynchronous JavaScript and XML") is a group of interrelated web development techniques used for creating interactive web applications that provide a method whereby parts within a Web page may be updated, using new information obtained over the network at a later time in response to user actions.

This allows the page to be more responsive, interactive and interesting, without the user having to wait for whole-page reloads. Ajax is seen as an important aspect of what is being called Web 2.0. Examples of Ajax techniques currently in use can be seen in Gmail, Google Maps, and other dynamic Web applications.


Publishing Web pages
Web page production is available to individuals outside the mass media. In order to publish a Web page, one does not have to go through a publisher or other media institution, and potential readers could be found in all corners of the globe.

Many different kinds of information are available on the Web, and for those who wish to know other societies, cultures, and peoples, it has become easier.

The increased opportunity to publish materials is observable in the countless personal and social networking pages, as well as sites by families, small shops, etc., facilitated by the emergence of free Web hosting services.