Web Architect? Is there such a beast?
by Ray Bordogna, Posted on May 26th, 2009Of course, there is no industry standard definition of a ‘web architect.’
Below is how I view the role.
A Web Architect is a specific type of application architect*. A web architect is expert re: web-specific scenarios and technologies applying best practices, patterns, and reference architectures around delivering web-native experiences in one or more of 3 types of ‘web’ environments:
§ Internet web sites;
§ Intranet web sites;
§ Web-enabled applications [i.e., exposing application functionality via a web browser]
A generic ‘web architect’ would have the following:
§ generic system and application architecture knowledge:
o non-functional attribute analysis**; session and state management, caching design, security/identity management, instrumentation, smart client and mobile-to-web topologies, user experience patterns
§ ‘web’ / SOA conceptual skills:
o e.g., , service-oriented architecture, peer-to-peer architecture, web browser design, W3C standards, web services APIs [e.g., SOAP, REST, POX]
§ ‘web’-oriented technology knowledge/skills:
o e.g., XHTML, CSS, XML, content syndication and aggregation [RSS, ATOM] and web 2.0 technologies
§ ‘web’ application development platform experience:
o Client-side AJAX Frameworks [e.g., Kabuki AJAX]
o Server-side Frameworks [e.g., Ruby on Rails]
o Other RIA Technologies [e.g., Flash, OpenLaszlo, etc…]
§ [optional] knowledgeable re: ‘web’-oriented’ rich user interface development environments
o e.g., Abobe Flash, Flex, WPF
*An Application Architect is expert re: architectural best practices, patterns, standards, and reference architectures and typically has deep experience with one or more application platform technologies (e.g., JAVA, .NET)]
** Non-Functional [Architecture] System Attributes: Availability, Conceptual integrity, Flexibility, Interoperability, Maintainability, Manageability, Performance [latency or throughput], Reliability, Reusability, Scalability, Security, Supportability, Testability and Usability
