The concept of data decentralization is relatively new. This concept would revolutionize the World Wide Web by defining a new ownership model of the data that flow through the internet network. The data decentralization would have an impact on the way that the websites will work and communicate with the servers. The shift that the server-side will witness is definitely going to affect the client-side in one way or another. The few lines would try to expose some hypothesis regarding the way the decentralized internet could affect the web design and the web development disciplines
The concept of data decentralization: what is it?
The concept of decentralization of data relies on the definition of the web server. The centralized web has a defined server which is a giant storage unit that hosts the websites. The decentralization dismisses the storage unit and relies on a network of storage units belonging to the community. The process will ensure critical points, otherwise, it would have nothing to add and it should be abandoned. The concept of decentralization has developed some other concepts like the blockchain and the node which are particular aspects of the data management through the decentralized network.
The implications of the data decentralization on the server-side:
The implications of the data decentralization on the server-side of the web are mainly related to the development of back-end applications that handle the shared data over the hosting network. These applications will handle:
- Store data over the network.
- Investigate the network in order to retrieve the data.
- Compile and retrieve the requested data.
- Perform source shifting in case of the current goes down.
The most important part is that the decentralization makes the server-side management more challenging and more complex. However, the security level is the part that the developers should worry the least.
The implications of the data decentralization on the client-side:
The implications of the decentralization on the client-side would be more challenging than the implications on the server-side. In fact, the back-end applications are made to serve the front-end design with content. If the applications spend more seconds investigating and compiling the content, the users are likely to quit and go browse somewhere else. The front-end developers and the freelance web designer will have to create interfaces that are able to retain the users and allow the content to display properly. The solutions here are to propose some interactive tasks that will work on the browser interface and allow the back-end applications to perform the requested tasks. The common message that can pop up and which goes like this: “While you are waiting for the page to load, you can take a tour on other sections of the website”, is a simple but somehow effective trick to distract the users.
Conclusion:
The data decentralization is a new step toward the realization of the goal “internet for everyone” in another context which the context of ownership. The security level would be enhanced. However, the implication of the concept on both client and server sides of the web are not that promising. The only hope is the creativity of the developers and the designers who are prompt to win the challenges.