e-Commerce

ADL 75

Session II

http://ecom-amity.blogspot.com
Instructor: Nishant K Rai
Part III Introduction of Web Client- Server Architecture

• Clients vs Server
• Server
o Web Server
o Applications Server
o Database Server
• Static & Dynamic Web Sites
• Server Site & Client Site Technology
• Hosting a website
 Part IV Websites development and Management

• Web Browser
• Language understandable by Web Browser-
Introduction to HTML
• Web Pages
• Success & Failure of E commerce Ventures
o Things that can go wrong
o Site Visibility
o Evaluation of Websites and usability testing
o Website content and traffic management
o Website Optimization
 Client/Server Networks
• A server is simply a special-purpose computer
designed to address a client’s requests
• A client is any computer or workstation connected to
the server within a network
• All programs or applications reside on the server
• The client downloads software and/or data from the
server
• When the client finishes data may be uploaded
• back to the server
Client/Server Network
Pros and Cons of Client/Server
Network
 Server

• Server
oWeb Server
oApplications Server
oDatabase Server
 Hosting a website

• Choosing a URL name

• ISP selection for Hosting
 The focus of this chapter is on several learning objectives

• ISPs and the services they offer

• How to choose an ISP
• How to register a domain name
 Terms to Know
• Internet Service Provider (ISP): company that
connects customers with PCs and browsers to the
Internet
• Virtual hosting: a company with its own domain
name, hosted by an ISP to conduct business via the
Internet
• Virtual domain: a company with its own domain
name, hosted by an ISP to conduct business via the
Internet
• Domain name: a company’s identifier in cyberspace
 Why Use an ISP?
• Most client organizations are anxious to go on the Internet without
questioning the reliability of the ISP that can accommodate their
Web site
• There is more to deciding on an ISP than price:
o Technology
o Staffing
o Speed
o Amount of congestion
• Resources to host your own Web site:
o Hardware - A Web server, communication gear, and a special router:
$5,000 to $18,000 a year
 http://www.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/servers?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&~ck=anavml
o Communications - Typically a T1 or fractional T1 line: $8,000 to $12,000
per year
 http://www.speakeasy.net/business/
o Staff - At least a Webmaster, a Web designer, and a help desk: $45,000 to
$80,000 per year
o Total - $58,000 to $110,000 per year
 The Infrastructure of an ISP Provider

• Your company Web site has to be stored on a

Web server that is always connected to the
Internet by a high-speed link
• An ISP should provide:
o Standby electric power as backup to keep the site available in the
event of a blackout.
o Redundant fault-tolerant servers to ensure that your Web site will
continue in the event of a hard drive or a server breaks down.
o Redundant communications lines to keep your site active in the
event a phone line or a router goes down
o One or more firewalls to protect your Web site from hackers or
unauthorized access.
Web Site Infrastructure
Types of Web Hosting Services
• Web Hosting: providing, managing, and maintaining
hardware, software, content integrity, security, and
reliable high-speed Internet connections
• Four types of Web hosting services:
o Dial-up access
o Developer’s hosting
o Web hosting only
o Industrial-strength hosting
• http://www.top-10-web-hosting.com/?wcw=google
 ISP Services
• An ISP provides a variety of service - the
expectations of any customer are for main
services to include:
• Domain name server (DNS): a repository where
the domain name for each ISP is stored
• E-mail: the most commonly used service on the
Internet
• Radius server: a network access server that
authenticates a user’s ID and password and triggers
accounting to complete the customer’s chargeable
session
 Zones and Domain Names
• An Internet name is decoded from right to left
• Zone name is the last (rightmost) part of a domain name preceded by
a dot, specifying the type of domain name
• Zones are classified in two ways:
o Three-letter zone names
o Two-letter zone names
• Domain name is a Web address that contains two or more word
groups separated by periods
• www.amazon.com => domain name
.com => zone
Sample Zone Names
Common Geographical Two-Letter Zone
Names
How to Pick a Domain Name
• Pointer for picking domain names
• If you sell bricks, pick a domain name containing a word like brick
• Consider name length and ease of remembering the name
• Hyphens to force search engines to see keywords in your domain
name
• Make sure the domain name is easy for Web users to remember an
find
• The domain name should suggest the nature of your product or
service
• The domain name should serve as a trademark
• The domain name should be free of legal conflicts
 How to Register a Domain
Name
• Check if the domain name you propose has been
taken
• www.FasterWhois.com
• http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp
• One of the most popular and reliable registration
sites is www.internic.net/alpha.html
o I use www.godaddy.com
 The Browser
• A browser is a piece of software that
allows users to navigate the Web
• Netscape Navigator
• Microsoft Internet Explorer
• Firefox
• Opera
 The Browser (cont'd)
• A browser is a Web client program that
uses Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
to make requests of Web servers
throughout the Internet on behalf of the
browser user
• Text-only mode such as Lynx
• Graphic mode involves a graphical software
program that retrieves text, audio, and video
Ten ways to fail at e-commerce
• Spread the responsibilities of converting
to e-commerce among several people
• Form a committee (particularly a
committee of busy people)
• Develop the simplest approach possible
• Choose vendors who are dismissive of
your traditional business, but whose
abilities you are the least capable of
assessing
Ten ways to fail at e-commerce
• Operate the same way on the web as you
do off-line (after all, the Internet is just a
tool)
• Insist that the e-commerce venture meet
every existing company standard (cost
controls, recruitment sources, purchasing
policies, etc)
• Don’t encourage different units to
cooperate; reward each one separately
Ten ways to fail at e-commerce
• Compare performance with traditional
industry competitors
• Give employees tools that they are unable
to use and require changes they are
confused about making. When the these
take too much time and make the work
harder, punish the employees.
• The company, not the customer, is in the
driver’s seat
Why E-commerce Project fails
• Unrealistic deadlines

• Incompetent or inadequate staffing

• Poor quality design

• Changing requirements of the client

• Not providing Web Designer with content

 Examples of the “Worst” Web Sites
• http://www.modestapparelchristianclothinglydia
• http://www.2atoms.com/comedy/worstoftheweb
• http://www.live-shot.com
• http://www.whoisjesusreally.com/english/defau

For more examples see:

• http://www.worstoftheweb.com
Top 20 Confessed Web Design Sins
• Our site tries to tell you how wonderful we are as a company, but not
how we're going to solve your problems.
• We've designed our site to meet our organization's needs (more
sales/contributions) rather than meeting the needs of our visitors.
• We say "Welcome to..." on our home page.
• It takes longer than four seconds for the man from Mars to
understand what our site is about.
• Our site doesn't make us look like credible professionals.
• The man from Mars cannot quickly find the focal point of the home
page.
• Our home page — or any page — takes more than four seconds to
load.
• We never conduct user testing.
Top 20 Confessed Web Design Sins
• We don't analyze our log files.
• Our site mixes and matches text sizes on the page.
• Quickly scanning the page doesn't tell our visitors much about its
purpose.
• We don't know which design items are not necessary.
• We have not eliminated unnecessary design items.
• The man from Mars cannot quickly find the focal point of the current
page.
• Visited links don't change color.
• We don't identify PDF files with an icon.
• I don't know if our site looks the same in the major browsers.
• Our pages have too much/too little white space.
• Our site uses divider bars.
• We don 't put design elements where our visitors expect them.
http://www.bestbuy.com/
Questions When Evaluating a Web Site

• Are any elements placed incorrectly?

• Is the information accurate?
• Is it current?
• Are the topics covered?
• Does each topic show a minimum of bias?
• Is the information hierarchy properly arranged?
• Should the heads that relate to the page be enlarged?
• Should the fonts for the headings be made more
readable?
 Basic Web Site Anatomy
• Location! Location! Location!
o Where are the files
• Structure
o What a page looks like
• Page anatomy
o How a page is built
 Color and Its Psychological Effects
• Site visitor forms a first impression within the first 8
seconds
• Color is the most important design element in a Web
site
o Web browsers can see only 256 colors
o A designer has a 216-color scheme
• Color is inherently unstable on Video displays
• Choose colors that are simple and not distracting
• Choose colors that reflect your audience’s values and
cultural preferences
 Choosing a Color

• You need to consider your audience

• Will colors strain visitors’ eyes?
• Soft colors that represent appropriate
settings are ideal

• http://webdesign.about.com/cs/color/a/aacolorharmony.htm
• http://www.artsconnected.org/toolkit/encyc_colorwheel.html
 Color and Individual Differences
• Web site colors take on different cultural hues
• Use a color that is acceptable to various cultures
• Blue is the most globally accessible color
• Age, class, and gender differences
o Web sites for young children favor brighter, more solid colors
o Men are attracted to cooler colors like blue and green
o Women prefer warmer colors like orange and red
o Research suggests working-class people prefer colors with basic
names like blue, red, green
 Web Site Usability
• Usability refers to a set of independent quality
attributes
o Performance
o Satisfaction
o Ease of navigation
o Learnability
• It means an application that allows the user to
perform the expected tasks more efficiently
o The integral attributes of a system that affect user performance
and productivity
 Effective Web Site Design
• The goal of effective Web site design is to
give users a good experience
o Switching costs on the Internet are low
o Churning is the basic measure of visitor
dissatisfaction with a site
• http://www.epson.com
• http://www.canon.com
• http://www.amazon.com
Components of Personalization
Components of Personalization –
(Cont’d)
 Reliability

• The core of reliability is availability

o System availability
o Network availability
o Application availability
• Ensure Web site reliability and usability
o Provide system backup
o Install a disk-mirroring feature
o Ensure that the system hardware is fault-tolerant
o Be sure applications are self-contained
o Be sure there is adequate hard disk space
o Buy everything from a single vendor
 User Testing

• Determine testing sample

• Decide what to look for during the test
• Look for trends in the way the site is succeeding or
failing to reach others
• Any bugs should be relayed and assigned to developer
who can fix them
• Use Web testing tools
o Load and performance test tools
o Java test tools
o Web site management tools and log analysis tools
 Site Performance Issues

• Images and color

o Readability testing
o Images: GIFs versus JPEGs
• Caches
• How many links?
• The role of the Web server