Web information technology (IT)

The hardware which makes data available around the world, comprising computers and cables, is known collectively as the internet. The software conventions which make it possible to transfer data over the internet are known as protocols, of which the best known are FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol). It was the latter which led to the explosive growth of the World Wide Web ('the web') after c1995, using HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language).

A great many computer programmes and programming languages can be used to create and format files for exchange over the web. No one could be expert in them all. of  them.  Some are similar to word processors; others require programming skills. The following notes are illustrative:

Text editors: a simple writing programme which allows only the entry of text characters, in upper or lower case, with no use of bold, italic or other formatting. This can be used to write HTML files.

Word processors: modern word processors (eg Word and AppleWorks) can save files in HTML format ready for publication on the web..

Web authoring software: allows document creation either in a format resembling a text editor or in a format resembling a word processor. The most widely used programmes are Dreamweaver and FrontPage.

Graphic software: allows the creation and editing of images. The two basic types of software are image editors and vector drawing programmes. Image editors (eg Photoshop and Photopaint) use bitmaps, which are like digital photographs. Vector drawing programmes (eg Illustrator and Corel Draw) use lines and fill colours.

Programming languages: allow the writing of computer code to carry out specific operations (eg Java, Javascript, PERL, C++). The code runs on web servers which host individual websites.

Database programmes: are used to store and manage data. Dynamic web pages draw data directly from databases  (eg Access, Oracle, MySQL) and format it for use oin web pages.

Content Management Systems (CMS): run on a web server and provide a convenient method of managing web content (intranet and internet) created by larger organisations.

Advantages of dynamic websites

  1. All the data is kept in a structured and orderly database. No information will  be duplicated in a normalised database. If, for example, you include a telephone number on half a million webpages then changing the number record at one point in the database will make certain that it is changed throughout the website.
  2. Data can be provided in different arrangements for different purposes. One can have a vast number of tailor-made websites.
  3. A dynamic website can respond to queries (eg a library catalogue can return all the book titles which include the works Russia + Naval + Tsar).
  4. The site can perform online transactions (eg if a customer buys 3 books + 2 CDs it can calculate the total price).
  5. Customer information can be written to a database and used for customer analysis, email marketing etc
  6. Web technologists can make their client's business dependent on their skills, so that they can charge fabulous fees

Disadvantages of dynamic websites

  1. Database-driven websites are less friendly to search engines. 'A large number of web pages are created on demand and current techniques are not able to search on those dynamic pages. This is called the hidden web' (p 394 Modern Information Retrieval, Ricardo Baeza-Yates and Berthire Ribeiro-Neto, Addison-Wesley, 1999). If a significant number of website users are expected to arrive via search engines then one must be very cautious so long as this remains true.
  2. Dynamic sites require more technical expertise to set up and manage. 
  3. Web programmers tend to earn more money than web designers - and produce less reliable products.
  4. Databases impose a straight-jacket, or several straitjackets, on the graphic design and on navigation systems.
  5. Dynamic sites impose a much heavier load on web servers. Many of the delays which bedevil e-commerce are caused by server problems. When Letsbuyit.com was a well-funded company with 350 staff, the site was just about usable first thing in the morning and totally unusable at busy periods. At Christmas it crashed and the service had to be withdrawn. Then the company went into receivership.
  6. Dynamic websites are more expensive to establish and maintain, in terms of hardware, software and staffing.

Comments

William Rees Mogg remarked that some of his friends were incurably adulterous and others incurably monogamous but that for the rest, everything depended on circumstances. Similarly:

  1. Some websites have to be database-driven (eg retail operations with many products)
  2. Some websites are unsuited to being database-driven (eg an online booklet about a visitor attraction)
  3. A company website with a predictable and manageable server load can benefit from holding its data in a database and making it available in different ways to different groups of users.
  4. In most cases, one should think long and hard about whether it is the better to have a static or a dynamic website. Healthy scepticism about the claims of technologists is always justifiable. As Winston Churchill remarked, they should be 'on tap and not on top'.
  5. Far more can be done with static websites than is generally realised.
  6. e-Commerce operations can operate by linking a static website to a well-managed call centre.
 
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