EarlyWeb sites were developed without following a formalized process model: requirements were not captured, design was not considered and documentation was not produced.
Developers quickly moved to the implementation phase and delivered the “site” without testing it. This kind of practice, motivated by the relative simplicity of the first Web sites and by the pressure for short time-to-market, is no longer suited to the demands of customers and public.
Today, it is widely acknowledged that development and maintenance of Web applications have grown too complex and
multifaceted to be managed without a rigorous approach.
It is interesting to notice how the current situation is somewhat similar to the early development of traditional software systems when quality was totally dependent on individual skills and lucky choices.
The consequence of the lack of a formalized process model is that the quality of built Web applications is in general poor. In fact, authors refer to this situation as the “Web crisis” [2].