WHAT IS WEB DEVELOPMENT? Web development can be a taken as a broad term for any activity related to developing a web site or an intranet. But usually "web development" refers to the non-design aspects of building web sites. That means the stuff you don't see - the markup and coding behind the visible page. Web development can range from developing the simplest static single page of plain text to the most complex web-based internet applications, electronic businesses, or social network services.