I'm a fan of
- MySQL
- Resque
- Ruby/Rails
- jQuery
- Backbone
- Bootstrap
- Heroku

Having lived in the .NET world for 10 years with way too much "refreshing", I'm loving how powerful web sockets are, particularly mobile. Node.js, Mongo and Redis are great in this realm.

To get started building modern applications after some time away from the scene I'd start with the lessons at http://teamtreehouse.com/ and http://railsforzombies.org/ because they're both excellent introductions to Ruby on Rails, Coffeescript and other very excellent ways to create rich experience for your customers.

The best practices and technologies are these:
1. Language: PHP - Almost everyone is using PHP, if not Ruby.

2. Content Management Systems including Drupal, Joomla and Wordpress.

A lot of my clients use content management systems which give non-technical people easy ways of managing their website.

MVC Frameworks (model-view-controller)
MVC frameworks like CakePHP, CodeIgniter, and Symphony and very popular since web designers can design and programmers can develop without overwriting each other.

I hope this answers at least part of your question.

I would be glad to take you through some of these technologies on a call if you'd like.

Bruce