Emerging Trends:
CMS, CSS3, HTML5
CMS
CMS, or content management system, is a database driven web site, which allows a web developer or administrator to make major changes to the site, but at the same time gives permissions to others with little knowledge in web site development, to what content they can change. Wordpress and Joomla are the two most popular CMS's being used, although there are many others, all of which use some form of .php to develop the site. These systems allow for many plug-ins, such as shopping carts, blogs, banner ads, wiki's, chat rooms, forums, and many others. As they are database driven, they are ideal for ecommerce sites.
CSS3
CSS3 is the modularization of the code. The previous two versions specifications were extremely large, and complex to update. CSS3 has broken this down into chunks, which are referred to as modules. Some of the modules are the box module, lists module, hyperlink presentation, speech module, backgrounds and borders, text effects, and multicolumn layouts. There are currently over 40 modules in use. This new standard bring s a desktop-style layout to web pages, using such elements as drop shadows, gradients, border effects, and many more.
HTML5
HTML5 is the fifth revision of HTML code, which is still under development, and the final version of it will not be available until 2014. Its main goal is to incorporate multimedia while still making it easy for people to read and understand, while making it consistently easy for computers and mobile devices to read. You can create apps with HTML5, and that Apple is not too pleased with the competition, but the apps are limited when compared to the native apps. 60% of web video is now available using HTML5.
Ranking:
I would rank the importance of these trends as follows: #1: CSS3, #2: CMS, and #3 HTML5. In my opinion, I think one should be learning to use CSS3, as it is a very powerful new way to present information on the internet. Secondly, I would think we should study and look at CMS, as this allows us as developers to create sites, and then turn over the day to day updates to the owner of the site, giving him or her permissions as to what they can access, as most are rather clueless as how to code a web site. Finally, I would start looking into implementing HTML5 in bits and pieces, concentrating on the video and mobile apps until the code is finally finished in 2014. I think all of these will become standards as we emerge from Web 2.0 into Web 3.0
Sources:
Wikipedia.org, answers.com, css3.info, designshack.co.uk, maclife.com, computerworld.com.