Is the Web dead? Hope not.

Today my team completed the visual design phase of a major overhaul of our corporate web site—a big milestone in a project that’s been underway since last fall. In an interesting (and somewhat alarming) coincidence, today I also happened to read an article by Farhad Manjoo in Slate that asks the provocative question: Is the Web Dead?

Like Manjoo, I’ve been following the rapid growth of device-specific apps and have begun to wonder if the Web as a browser-based experience may soon be a thing of the past. Manjoo makes the case that the Web’s universality—its ability to display content regardless of the device or browser software used—will be its salvation. I suspect he’s onto something there, and I would also argue that for every “death” of a technology platform, I could show you an example where a new technology failed to supplant the old one it was supposed to kill off.

In any case, I’m betting that the Web will continue to remain vital—and perhaps exist side by side with apps—for the foreseeable future. Which, of course, is probably only about a year or two.