ELECTRONIC

BUSINESS

Lecture # 28,29 & 30

Introduction to E-Commerce Web Site

Launching an E-Commerce Web Site

Planning the Web Site

Selecting the Domain Name

Registering the Domain Name

Designing the Web site

Conceptualization
Market research,
research
Web Strategy, and
Content Creation
Structure and layout
Rough Sketches
Graphics
HTML Content
A Prototype Web site
Testing

Web Hosting
Testing the Web site
Launching the Web site

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Lecture # 28,29 & 30

Some Basic Definition

(Contd)

World Wide Web

Web Server
Web Based Applications
Static Pages
Dynamic Pages
Web Browser
Web Page
Home Page

Introduction to HTML

Markup Languages
Editing HTML
Common Tags

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Introduction

Most organization are now equipped with, online trading facilities via
e-commerce web sites.
Online trading at a web site increases the proximity between an
organization and its customers.
The customers can access the web site

with ease, collect relevant information, and perform a transaction at any

convenient time.

In such a situation where the customer is not visiting the organization

physically, the Web site of the organization is its identity.

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Introduction

Contd

For successful online trading system, there are some essential factors
that the e-commerce Web site should have:
Be user friendly
Have a name that is easy to remember

Easy to locate
Easy to navigate

Reflect the business of the organization

Have content relevant to its organization
Provide a secure transaction mechanism

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Launching an E-Commerce Web Site

The typical sequence of activities to launch an e-commerce Web

site are:

Planning the Web site

Designing the Web site

Testing the Web site

Launching the Web site

Where do I
start?

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Planning the Web Site

Planning an e-commerce site involves the following steps:

Selecting the Domain Name

Domain name is the identity of a Web site on the Internet.

Internet domain names, in a common mans language, are used as
easy-to-remember, which point to specific IP addresses.
The purpose of a domain name is to provide unique name that
corresponds to the electronic address of a computer. e.g.
www.niit.com
Domain names classified into specific categories by ICANN. e.g.
.com, .org, .net, edu, .biz, .info, .name, .pro, .museum, .aero, .coop,
.uk

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Planning the Web Site

(Contd)

Using the correct domain name for a web site is important:

The name is the same as the name of the organization

The name reflects the business of the product that you are
promoting
The name should be short and memorable
The name should be unique
The name should be easy to spell

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Planning the Web Site

(Contd)

Registering the Domain Name

After a domain name is decided you are required to register it.

Domain names are allocated on a first-come-first-serve basis.
Before registering the domain name, ensure the availability of
domain name
Visit any of the Web sites that register domain names, such as

www.networksolutions.com,

www.whois.net

Okay!

www.greatdomains.com,

www.register.com and many others

Got my
Domain
Name

If the domain name of your choice is available,

you can register it after paying the required fee.
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Designing a Web Site

Designing a web site involves the following phases

Conceptualization

Conceptualization is based on the nature of the business and the

type of e-commerce site.
It helps you in recognizing the marketing goals for your site.
Enables you to conceptualize the content and design of the Web
site.
The important factors, when you are conceptualizing a Web site are:
Market research,
research
Web Strategy, and
Content Creation

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Designing a Web Site

Market research

It involves identifying the potential clients for the Web site

Internet is a global business, you need to be clear weather you have the
means to deliver products round the globe or would restrict your clientele to
a specific country.

Web Strategy

(Contd)

Divert traffic to your site

Evaluate the genuineness of an order
Deliver the ordered product

Content Creation

Design the web content depending on what you want to sell

Web sites all over the Internet with poor content
Content used as a tool to divert traffic to your site
Surfers prefer to visit Web sites that regularly update the contents

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Designing a Web Site

(Contd)

Structure and layout

A team of Web designer is required to create the Web site.

The designing of the Structure and layout of the website is a
process and involves creating

Rough Sketches
A graphic artist create a sketch of the Web site using Photoshop or
any other graphic software.
The sketch is a rough visual conceptualization to the Web site and
displays color combinations and limited interactivity
Graphics
Graphics are added to a Web site because they provide:
The interested element for surfers
Reinforce important points

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Designing a Web Site

(Contd)

HTML Content
Developing contents for the Web site as text documents.
These documents are converted into HTML Web pages by using
application software.
A Prototype Web site
A prototype of a Web site is a working model of the Web site
that reveals the final layout and design
The first prototype model that is created is called the Alpha
release, and the second model is called the Beta release.
The Beta release is forwarded to the testing purpose
Testing
The Beta release of the Web site is tested extensively
(Content formatting, Graphics quality, and Hyperlinks)
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Designing a Web Site

(Contd)

Web Hosting

Hosting refer to placing the Web site on a Web server

Web Server is the computer that hosts the Web site and has a
dedicated Internet connection.
Small e-commerce businesses typically opt for Web hosting companies
or ISP that host the web site for a monthly rental or an annual
contracts.

E.g.
DellHost web hosting services, able to accommodate every thing for small
Web site to large e-commerce web sites.

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Designing a Web Site

(Contd)

www.digex.com/freeflow
Digex provides web hosting services for e-business
www.gettheconnection.com
Offers a wide range of e-business solutions including web hosting, web
page setup and integrating with 3rd party services.
www.intermedia.net
Offers services including unlimited e-mail, database, cybercash, chat
and many more

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Designing a Web Site

(Contd)

Deciding factors for selecting the right Web hosting company are:

Storage Space
Web hosting companies generally follow a differential price policy based
on the storage capacity that you require.
E-mail account
Web hosting companies provide an e-mail account with the same name as
your domain name.
Uptime
The Web hosting companies should be able to commit 99+% uptime
Dedicated hosting
Web hosting companies offer dedicated servers for hosting your website
SSL encryption
SSL encryption is a procedure that ensures that the data submitted by
the surfer is sent only to the intended recipient.

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Testing the Web Site

Before launching a Web site on the client side, the Web site must be
fully tested and made zero defective.
A Web site must be tested to check to ensure that:
It functions properly
The transaction process are efficient
The Web site is user friendly
The Web site is error-free
Proper messages are displayed in case of any problem
All the security measures implemented are working properly
All the links are working properly
The Web technology is responsive and scales to meet your needs

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Launching the Web Site

Once you have completed all the activities from planning to testing
phase, the last activity is to launch your e-commerce Web site.
The purpose of launching the site is to :
Make it popular among Internet users
Make it visible among thousands of other Web sites
Increase number of hits to your site
Attract users to perform transactions on your site
Improve revenues
Launching a Web site can involve different activities like Publicity and
Advertisement

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Some Basic

What is the World Wide Web?

What is a web server?
What is a web browser?
What is a web page?
What is a home page?
What is a web site?

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What is the World Wide Web?

The World Wide Web (commonly abbreviated as "the Web") is a system of

interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet

A hypertext based system for providing, organizing and accessing

information that allows users to jump from one information space to
another

Comprises servers and client computers on the Internet that

communicate using the hypertext transfer protocol (http)

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What is a web server?

A computer running application software that listens and responds to a

client computers request made through a web browser
A machine that hosts web pages and other web documents
provides web documents and other online services using HTTP

Apache
most popular open source server software on the Web
Microsoft Internet Information Server

IIS is fully integrated into the Windows NT / 2000 server package

IBM Web Sphere Studio

Apple Webobject
Macromedia ColdFusion
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Web Based Applications

Static Pages
Those pages which does not provide response to user by input.
No interaction with user.
Static pages are created in HTML.
The majority of the web pages on the Internet today are static HTML
pages.
HTML pages are simple text files that are displayed by the web browser
upon your request.
Static pages are easily
read by search engine.

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Web Based Applications

(Contd)

Dynamic Pages: - Those pages which provides response to user by

input.

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Web Based Applications

(Contd)

Interaction with user.

Dynamic web pages are more complex and usually give the website
visitor easier access to the information that they need.
Visitor find dynamically generated web pages to be useful because
they are provided instant access to highly relevant information.
Dynamic sites are also much easier to update and maintain. Adding
new products and editing products in your online searchable
catalog is as easy as filling out a form.
Dynamic web pages are created using technologies like CGI, ASP,
Cold Fusion, JSP, PHP etc.

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What is a web browser?

Application Software that allows users to view Web content such as

text, images, videos, music, games and other information located on a
web page at a web site on the www.
Application software that is used to locate and issue a request for the
page on the web server that hosts the document
It also interpret the page sent back by the web server and display it on
the monitor of the client computer
Computer program that lets you view and explore information on the
World Wide Web

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Web Browsers

Microsoft Internet Explorer browser integrated with the Windows

operating system. Mac versions are available.
Netscape Navigator - available for Windows, Mac, and Unix platforms.
Opera one of the alternatives to the two most popular browser
mentioned above
Mozilla open source web browser software
Lynx - popular Unix text-based browser

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What is a Web Page?

Electronic document that typically contains several types of information

accessible via the World Wide Web
set of information created, and organized, using HTML and/or other web
page authoring and development tools
Interpreted and displayed on the screen according to the instructions of
the web page authoring tool

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How Web Page Works

Sample web page and its source.

The source contains the instructions
that define the contents, layout, and
structure of a web page.
The instructions are written in HTML or
another web authoring tool used in
creating the page.
The browser uses these instructions to
interpret and display the web page on
the screen.

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What is a Web Site?

Web site is a collection of related web pages of a certain individual,

group, or organization, connected through a system of hyperlinks,
hosted in a particular domain
can be a single web page that contains links to related information
located on several web sites

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What is a Home Page?

Home page is the main page of a web site that typically serves as an
index or table of contents to other web pages
usually the first web page or the welcome page the users see when
they visit a web site

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Web Page? Web Site? Home Page?

This Web page is the Home

Page of the UNESCO Web
Site

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What are the Elements of a Web Page?

Title title of the web page

Web address URL of the page shown at the browsers address box
Content information on the page - text, graphics and other media
types
Design style of the page, font, color, background, visual elements
Structure layout of the page, title, headings, tables, frames,
navigational tools, footers
Hyperlinks links to related resources

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Elements of a Web Page

Document Title
Address (URL)
Banner
Web page
Title

Navigational
Tools
Search tool
Graphic
Elements
Hyperlinks

Table /
Navigational
Tools

Content
Hyperlinks
Frames
Footer /
Copyright

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What are the design elements of a web

page?

Overall look of the web page the general look or feel of the page
(aesthetic value)
Content all the information contained within the page i.e. text and
other media types embedded in the page
Navigational tools the text links, icons, buttons, bars and other
objects use for exploring the page and any linked pages
Graphics the images other graphical elements in the page
Page layout and structure organization of the elements in the page

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Introduction to HTML

HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language, and it is the most

widely used language to write Web Pages. HTML is a markup language.

Hypertext

Markup Language

Refers to the way in which Web pages (HTML documents) are linked
together.
Identify elements of a page so that a browser can render that page on
your computer screen

HTML is markup language that defines the structure of information

by using a variety of tags and attributes, which is designed to display
text and other information on a screen and provide hyperlinks to
other Web documents

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HTML, which stands for HyperText Markup Language, is the predominant

markup language for web pages. HTML is the basic building-blocks of
webpages.
HTML is written in the form of HTML elements consisting of tags, enclosed in
angle brackets (like <html>), within the web page content. HTML tags normally
come in pairs like <h1> and </h1>. The first tag in a pair is the start tag, the
second tag is the end tag (they are also called opening tags and closing tags).
In between these tags web designers can add text, tables, images, etc.
The purpose of a web browser is to read HTML documents and compose them
into visual or audible web pages.
The browser does not display the HTML tags, but uses the tags to interpret
the content of the page

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Markup Languages

HTML

Marked up with elements, delineated by tags

Tags: keywords contained in pairs of angle brackets

A command inserted in a document that specifies how the document, or a

portion of the document, should be formatted.

HTML tags

Two types of tags

Not case sensitive e.g. <HTML>

Good practice to keep all the letters in one case
Singular Tag
Tag having no enclosing tag e.g. <BR>

Pair Tag

Tag having enclosing tag

e.g. <HTML></HTML>

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Editing HTML

HTML files or documents

Written in source-code form using text editor

Notepad: Start-Programs-Accessories
HTML-Kit: http://www.chami.com/html-kit

HTML files

.htm or .html extensions

Name your files to describe their functionality

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Common Tags

Always include the <HTML></HTML> tags

Comments placed inside <!----> tags

The main container for HTML pages

Should always be the first and last line in html code
It is used for documentation purpose. Web page name, purpose etc

HTML documents
HEAD section

<HEAD> </HEAD>

Contain Info about the document and the body,

the page contents
Info in header not generally rendered in display window

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Common Tags

TITLE element names your Web page

(Contd)

<TITLE> </TITLE>

It shows the title of the document

Usually appears on the bar at the top of the window
Search engine used it for searching, so it must be meaningful
E.g. <HEAD>
<TITLE> WELCOME PAGE </TITLE>
</HEAD>

BODY section

Used to identify the body of the page

Display all the Page contents that we want at the browser
Includes text, images, links, forms, etc.
Elements include backgrounds, link colors and font faces

Paragraph Tag

<Body> </Body>

<P> </P>

Use to display a paragraph of the page

blank line before and after
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Common Tags

HEAD Section
TITLE element
BODY section
P element

(Contd)

1 <HTML>
2
3 <!-- Fig. 9.1: main.html -->
4 <!-- Our first Web page -->
5
6 <HEAD>
7 <TITLE>Internet and WWW How to Program Welcome</TITLE>
8 </HEAD>
9
10 <BODY>
11
12 <P>Welcome to Our Web Site!</P>
13
14 </BODY>
15 </HTML>

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