Web Development Leeds – A 90s Renaissance Success

Oct 30
08:23

2009

Clare Endeacott

Clare Endeacott

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As it has redefined itself over the past 20 years, Leeds has emerged as one of the UK's hubs for Web Development. Leeds built the necessary foundations to create a truly vibrant business centre.

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Leeds: the Setting

Starting in the late 1980s,Web Development Leeds – A 90s Renaissance Success Articles Leeds joined the rest of the UK as it began a transition from a manufacturing economy to information and service sector based economy.  As the UK’s third largest city with a strong tradition in high level education, Leeds has been able to successfully re-define itself as a national leader in Information Technology and Web Development.  Government incentives, a growing need, together with a strong professional base have made Web Development Leeds  reality.  Along with financial and legal businesses, high tech companies have been relocating from less favourable surroundings to Leeds where they have been able to thrive.

Leeds has a traditional economic base of engineering, manufacturing and textiles.  Over the past 20 years the economy has diversified into the development of major service industries, such as the financial and legal sectors.  On the heels of these industries, Leeds has become established as a leading centre for Web Development. 

The City has two Universities and a large number of further educational institutions, which in addition to the University of Leeds’ leading Medical specialisation; Leeds universities have become hubs for the education of Web Development professionals from throughout the UK.

With this fecund environment, Leeds was well positioned to participate in the growth of the Web Development industry over the past 15 years.  Commencing the mid-1990s Web Development transformed into one of the fastest growing industries in the world.  With Leeds repositioned as a centre in the financial and legal industries, Web Development in Leeds was sure to follow as these sectors required the services of web developers in Leeds in order to sell products and services to their customers and to automate business workflow.  As the importance of the Internet grew, so did the value of the web development sector.

Web Development - the Basics

Web Development is the creating, coding and building the underlying framework of websites and web based applications such as client management systems, ecommerce capabilities, lead generation systems, etc.  Web Development has been at the forefront of the dynamic shift in marketing from "bricks and mortar" businesses into the Internet market and information services.

There are a range of tools and platforms available for Web Development. Examples are:

  • LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP;  usually distributed free of charge)
  • The Microsoft .NET framework (available in a variety of strains from free to paid versions)

The latest generation of web development tools uses the strong growth in LAMP and Microsoft .NET technologies to provide the Web as a way to run applications online, known as "Cloud Computing".  Well known examples of this are GoogleDocs, Microsoft Office Live Meeting, and Facebook. Web developers now deliver applications as Web services which were previously only available as stand-alone applications on desktop computers. In place of running executable code on a local desktop computer, users interact with online applications to meet their needs.  This has many benefits, including allowing users to access their information and documents on any computer with an internet connection, no longer tied down to a single machine.

The skill set needed to create these applications is extremely specialized and requires a high level educational environment and/or work environment.  Leeds has become a perfect setting for this, with its excellent educational institutions together with the high caliber of Web Development companies and departments situated in Leeds.

Web Development Leeds  –  Inevitable?

Leeds Web Development has been a natural success.  As it became a centre of the “new economy", Leeds inevitably became an important base of the Web Development industry. Web development services were in demand by the many businesses which made Leeds their home over the past 20 years during this Leeds renaissance.  For professional level web development one need look no further than Leeds.