AFRICAN UNIVERSITY DAY 2000

THEME: AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES AND THE CHALLENGE OF KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND APPLICATION IN THE INFORMATION AGE

TITLE: WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT AND HOSTING

PRESENTERS: ALLAN KAKUBO AND TAWANDA HOJANE

THIRD (3^RD) YEAR BSc COMPUTER SCIENCE STUDENTS

COPPERBELT UNIVERSITY KITWE ZAMBIA

INTRODUCTION

A website is a tool that an organization/individuals use to expose or sell their services or ideas to the world. Technically speaking it is an address on the WWW (World Wide Web), which I would simply define as the universe of global network-accessible information. It is an abstract space with which people can interact, and is currently chiefly populated by interlinked pages of text, images and animation, with occasional sounds, 3D world and videos.

The WWW was designed originally as an interactive world of shared information through which people could communicate with each other and with machines. Since its inception in 1989, it has grown initially as a medium of broadcast of read-only material from heavily loaded corporate servers, to the mass of Internet connected consumers. It has now become a very vital tool for even smaller groups, families and personal information systems.

The intent was that this space should span from a private information system to a public information system, from high value carefully checked and designed material, to off-the-cuff ideas which makes sense only to a few people and may never be read again.

The major objective of the WWW is information sharing, and this information, is found on different portions of the WWW called websites, on which my talk will be based on.

I’ll pick on big organizations (why do they need to have a website?). The only way to answer this is by looking at the advantages of having a website.

ADVANTAGES OF HAVING A WEBSITE

1. Reach new markets - Potential customers extensively use the web to research solutions to existing problems. Organizations who wish to reach these new and presently unknown customers can make themselves known by establishing an Internet presence.

2. Improve perceptions of company and products - An Internet presence can express the strengths and visions of the enterprise. Products can be shown as a capable solution to customers’ problems.

3. Eliminate intermediaries and redundancy - Distributors or resellers between an organization and its customers add cost to the product, perform redundant functions, and keep the organization from understanding the ultimate customers’ needs and wants. Internet presence allows the organization to deal directly with the customers of their products and services.

4. Lower transaction costs - Most interfaces with external parties are performed by people within the organization. Internet presence processes deal directly with these parties through an automated interface where appropriate. This removes the need for people (the most expensive resource) from these interactions and thereby lowers costs.

5. Convenience to external parties - All automated interfaces provided via a web site are available to any interested party any time of the day. In addition, specific information relative to a customer or supplier can be provided given the security authorizations.

6. Reduce delivery times - Customer transactions are more direct and immediate using an Internet presence. Orders, containing correct information, are received directly and can be filled and shipped more rapidly than with traditional methods.

7. Personalize and improve customer service - For Internet applications with strong data accessibility, customer interaction can be more personal. Customer data allows the web interface to present the customer with customer-specific information and offer new information that fits the customer profile.

After weighing the advantages and the impact the site will have on your business, you also have to look at current systems being used by your organization and their limitations in regard to dissemination of information about your products/services.

It is after this, that the organization should engage a website designer who should posses the following skills:

C Graphic designing - It is very important that the web site should be outstanding in appearance, in the good way, in that it should be eye catching.

C Advertising and marketing - The site shouldn’t just look beautiful but appeal to visitor to actually make a contact with you. It should make an impact business wise.

C Computer programming - To design a website is one thing, to program it is another. The web site designer should be very familiar with the programming language, which is called Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).

Most of the software available on the market like Front Page, Dream Weaver, etc. will provide you with the code of your design, but there comes a time when enhancements have to be made to site. This is when you need accomplished HTML programmers who will be able to interpret the code and make necessary changes.

Programming techniques are also needed when maintaining the site. Especially when there is a database linked to the site.

To help the company produce a professional and distinctive website, that places well in any search engine, the organization should work closely with the developers in the planning stages of the website, so as to come up with the appropriate design and programming features. The developers should strive to help you plan for a site that loads quickly.

The first step in designing a website is to define the main and secondary features to include on the site.

It should be noted that attractive and functional websites don’t just happen. They are created, and what these websites have in common is the proper use of design elements.

DESIGN ELEMENTS

AESTHETICS:- This is a set of principles influencing artistic styles/taste, colours, white space, type font, background elements and graphics.

Just like a printed ad campaign, the proper use of these elements creates websites that have a professional appearance.

Using the same style on all pages of the site is highly recommended.

LAYOUT: - Proper layout (or how the elements on the page are positioned with each other) not only exposes the aesthetics of the page, but it also helps the visitor navigate your site more easily.

The developer in this case should note that customers view website on 15" monitors and 800 x 600 resolution, thus its important that the home page (the first page your customer sees) be very user friendly, i.e. the customer should be able to immediately use navigational bars (or menus) to get more detailed information from other pages.

Try as much as possible to make sure that all the links to other pages or other parts of the same page are in view immediately.

LOGOS AND GRAPHICS:- Unlike the print media, the web brings several limitations to the graphics artist. A logo that looks great in print will not always look the same on the web. Knowing this, the graphic artist employs digital design logo specifically for the web. These graphics are optimized to create the best possible blend of quality and speed. An attractive logo will greatly enhance the professional look of your website.

Remember you only have one change to make a first impression in business.

EASE OF NAVIGATION:- Strategic placing of bookmarks and hyperlinks will greatly help the visitor to easily navigate the site.

FEATURES OF GOOD WEBSITES

A well-planned and designed Website will contain the following features:

1) Meet specific goals of the Site Owner

2) Contain Focused Content that appeals to the Target Market

3) Present Content that encourages Visitor Contact

4) Contain Content which improves visibility by the Search Engines

5) Easy to read, use, navigate, locate information and print

6) Integrated Visual Design theme appropriate for the Target Market

7) Controlled Quality of Technology for download speed

8) Be easily located by major Search Engines. Allow for future expansions and additions to the Website

9) Permit easy implementation of new Internet technologies

CONTENT IS THE KEY TO A GOOD WEBSITE

Some businesses make the mistake of placing the entire text of existing product brochures and related material into a Website. A website is not a book; it is a Marketing Communication Tool that should provide sufficient information to encourage the visitor to contact you. Your Website should generate leads for your sales force. Your website is the carrot on the stick. It should entice the visitor to request additional information. Don’t risk loosing the opportunity to close a sale by providing excessive information.

The material in your existing brochures should be revised and encapsulated to achieve this goal. Furthermore, it should have focus and be written from a Marketing perspective. You can revise the text from your existing brochures to make it appropriate for your website. This is not a function that a website programmer can perform for you. Unless you want to delegate your Marketing function to a Programmer.

The content should be written with key phrases that are indexed by Search Engines and used by visitors to locate Websites. Since most Search Engines use spiders or crawlers to index text from Websites, the text content of a Website is important to its ranking by these Search Engines.

If your Website objective is to accept Orders Online, then specific product information should be presented in sufficient detail to encourage the visitor to place an order.

WEBSITE FEATURES TO AVOID - INSTRUCT YOUR PROGRAMMER

AVOID REVERSE VIDEO

Reverse Video is the display of text in a light colour on a dark background colour. Avoid using Reverse Video in your Website for two reasons. First, Reverse Video will not print text, unless the reverse video is a graphic element. Second, white text on a black background is difficult to read and can cause severe eyestrain.

AVOID WALL PAPER

Wallpaper is a graphic display in the background with the content displayed on top of the Wallpaper. Wallpaper makes text difficult to read, particularly for people who have impaired vision. As we age, less light is emitted to the cornea and sharper contrast is required to see clearly. Unless you want to limit the legibility of your website to people under age 40 with perfect 20/20 vision, avoid the use of Wallpaper.

AVOID EXCESSIVE FLASHING/GLITTER

Avoid excessive flashing, glitter and text with too many different bright colours. These features are distracting to the eye and take attention away from the message. Use flashing and text colour changes sparingly. [NOTE: Use some animation in your Advertisements to attract attention.]

AVOID LENGTHY DOWNLOAD TIME

Although a Website page technically can be any length and contain any number of graphics, it takes too long to download, you will loose visitors to your Website.

Guidelines to your download time are based upon the most common modem speed currently in use (28.8 Kbps). Each web page should download in 30 seconds or less using a 28.8 modem. In order to achieve this download speed standard a web page should not contain more than two or three graphic images and a few printed pages (based on 8-1/2 x 11" paper). Graphic images can be compressed to achieve desired download speeds.

AVOID LENGTHY PAGES

Although you can put an entire Library of Congress on one Website page, no one will read it if it takes forever to download! Brevity and Clarity are as important as the organization of your Website material. Additionally, your message on each page should be Written Concisely. If your web page contains too much text or if the text is too verbose, Website visitors may loose interest and leave. Revise your existing material to make it suitable for publishing in your Website.

PLUG-INS

Plug-Ins are the Kiss of Death to a Website. Avoid requiring a visitor to download a Plug-In to view your website. Use features which standard browsers support.

AUDIO CLIPS

If you use Audio Clips, offer the visitor the opportunity to turn the audio off before it plays. Sometimes a visitor may not want to disturb others at home or at work. Other times a visitor may want to play your Audio Clip. Give your visitor the option.

WEBSITE HOSTING

This is the act of storing websites on state-of-art computer systems called SERVERS, which are linked to the web. These servers allow anyone on the Internet to view your website.

Web Hosts, provide you with computer space on a server which is linked to the web. Your website “resides” in this computer and when your domain address is requested, the server recognizes your domain address and your website is sent to whoever requested it. Several factors must be considered when selecting your hosting service. Selecting the right host to begin with, can save you grief down the road.

CHOICE OF HOST

Several factors must be considered when selecting your hosting service. Some of the factors that a client would want to consider before choosing an ISP (INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER) to host their websites are:

C Direct Backbone connection. You want your website to be directly connected to the web, this increases the speed in which your website can be downloaded to the user.

C Fibre optic DS3 Line, 45 million bits per second, this is the same line the Internet backbone runs on.

C Backup T1 Lines. Its important that your Web Host is not dependent on a single line to the internet backbone, in case of technical difficulties with the main line, backups keep your website up and running.

C Backup Power, in case of electrical disruption at your Web Host, you want to make sure your website stays up and running.

C Disk space. This is the amount of space you are allotted on the server’s computer. This is a very important factor when deciding on a hosting service. This disk space must hold your web pages, your e-mail correspondence, your product inventory, customer information, shipping information, archives, software programs, basically everything involved with your website. As your online business grows, you want to be sure you have the disk space to handle your needs today as well as in the future.

C Data transfer per month. This is your total sum of outward-bound, inward-bound, e-mail and anonymous FTP (File Transfer Protocol) traffic. Each time your web page is accessed by a visitor, there is data transfer.

C FTP access. File Transfer Protocol is a method used to transfer your website and related files from your computer to your website server.

C POP3 Email Accounts. These are e-mail “boxes” on the hosting server which can be accessed directly, to retrieve your mail using programs such as Outlook Express or Netscape Mail. Each POP3 account has its own password to assure privacy.

CE-mail forwards. Any e-mail address at your domain can be configured to forward your e-mail to any other internet e-mail address. So if e-mail is sent to sales@yourdomain.com, it can be redirected to susan@aol.com.

C Autoresponders, allow you to send an automated e-mail response to incoming mail sent to a specific address. An excellent marketing tool.

C Secure Server Use, SSL, is a method that ensures information sent to your website is protected. Information is sent in an encrypted mode and is commonly used for credit card transactions.

C Daily Tape Backup. All files contained in your website and related directives should daily be backed-up on tape. In the event of a computer crush, your data and files would not be lost.

C CGI-bin, is a folder included with your hosting package that contain server-operated programs and software. Full access to this file allows you to import programs that can be used in conjunction with your web site.

C 24-Hour Technical Support.

After choosing your host, you have to agree on the domain address for your website. The ISP (Internet Service Provider) has to give you more details about the protocols they use.

	Association of African Universities Association des Universités Africaines
Welcome/ Bienvenue	African University Day Celebration
Back to AAU Day Papers	AFRICAN UNIVERSITY DAY 2000 AFRICAN UNIVERSITY DAY 2000 THEME: AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES AND THE CHALLENGE OF KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND APPLICATION IN THE INFORMATION AGE TITLE: WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT AND HOSTING PRESENTERS: ALLAN KAKUBO AND TAWANDA HOJANE THIRD (3^RD) YEAR BSc COMPUTER SCIENCE STUDENTS COPPERBELT UNIVERSITY KITWE ZAMBIA INTRODUCTION A website is a tool that an organization/individuals use to expose or sell their services or ideas to the world. Technically speaking it is an address on the WWW (World Wide Web), which I would simply define as the universe of global network-accessible information. It is an abstract space with which people can interact, and is currently chiefly populated by interlinked pages of text, images and animation, with occasional sounds, 3D world and videos. The WWW was designed originally as an interactive world of shared information through which people could communicate with each other and with machines. Since its inception in 1989, it has grown initially as a medium of broadcast of read-only material from heavily loaded corporate servers, to the mass of Internet connected consumers. It has now become a very vital tool for even smaller groups, families and personal information systems. The intent was that this space should span from a private information system to a public information system, from high value carefully checked and designed material, to off-the-cuff ideas which makes sense only to a few people and may never be read again. The major objective of the WWW is information sharing, and this information, is found on different portions of the WWW called websites, on which my talk will be based on. I’ll pick on big organizations (why do they need to have a website?). The only way to answer this is by looking at the advantages of having a website. ADVANTAGES OF HAVING A WEBSITE 1. Reach new markets - Potential customers extensively use the web to research solutions to existing problems. Organizations who wish to reach these new and presently unknown customers can make themselves known by establishing an Internet presence. 2. Improve perceptions of company and products - An Internet presence can express the strengths and visions of the enterprise. Products can be shown as a capable solution to customers’ problems. 3. Eliminate intermediaries and redundancy - Distributors or resellers between an organization and its customers add cost to the product, perform redundant functions, and keep the organization from understanding the ultimate customers’ needs and wants. Internet presence allows the organization to deal directly with the customers of their products and services. 4. Lower transaction costs - Most interfaces with external parties are performed by people within the organization. Internet presence processes deal directly with these parties through an automated interface where appropriate. This removes the need for people (the most expensive resource) from these interactions and thereby lowers costs. 5. Convenience to external parties - All automated interfaces provided via a web site are available to any interested party any time of the day. In addition, specific information relative to a customer or supplier can be provided given the security authorizations. 6. Reduce delivery times - Customer transactions are more direct and immediate using an Internet presence. Orders, containing correct information, are received directly and can be filled and shipped more rapidly than with traditional methods. 7. Personalize and improve customer service - For Internet applications with strong data accessibility, customer interaction can be more personal. Customer data allows the web interface to present the customer with customer-specific information and offer new information that fits the customer profile. After weighing the advantages and the impact the site will have on your business, you also have to look at current systems being used by your organization and their limitations in regard to dissemination of information about your products/services. It is after this, that the organization should engage a website designer who should posses the following skills: C Graphic designing - It is very important that the web site should be outstanding in appearance, in the good way, in that it should be eye catching. C Advertising and marketing - The site shouldn’t just look beautiful but appeal to visitor to actually make a contact with you. It should make an impact business wise. C Computer programming - To design a website is one thing, to program it is another. The web site designer should be very familiar with the programming language, which is called Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). Most of the software available on the market like Front Page, Dream Weaver, etc. will provide you with the code of your design, but there comes a time when enhancements have to be made to site. This is when you need accomplished HTML programmers who will be able to interpret the code and make necessary changes. Programming techniques are also needed when maintaining the site. Especially when there is a database linked to the site. To help the company produce a professional and distinctive website, that places well in any search engine, the organization should work closely with the developers in the planning stages of the website, so as to come up with the appropriate design and programming features. The developers should strive to help you plan for a site that loads quickly. The first step in designing a website is to define the main and secondary features to include on the site. It should be noted that attractive and functional websites don’t just happen. They are created, and what these websites have in common is the proper use of design elements. DESIGN ELEMENTS AESTHETICS:- This is a set of principles influencing artistic styles/taste, colours, white space, type font, background elements and graphics. Just like a printed ad campaign, the proper use of these elements creates websites that have a professional appearance. Using the same style on all pages of the site is highly recommended. LAYOUT: - Proper layout (or how the elements on the page are positioned with each other) not only exposes the aesthetics of the page, but it also helps the visitor navigate your site more easily. The developer in this case should note that customers view website on 15" monitors and 800 x 600 resolution, thus its important that the home page (the first page your customer sees) be very user friendly, i.e. the customer should be able to immediately use navigational bars (or menus) to get more detailed information from other pages. Try as much as possible to make sure that all the links to other pages or other parts of the same page are in view immediately. LOGOS AND GRAPHICS:- Unlike the print media, the web brings several limitations to the graphics artist. A logo that looks great in print will not always look the same on the web. Knowing this, the graphic artist employs digital design logo specifically for the web. These graphics are optimized to create the best possible blend of quality and speed. An attractive logo will greatly enhance the professional look of your website. Remember you only have one change to make a first impression in business. EASE OF NAVIGATION:- Strategic placing of bookmarks and hyperlinks will greatly help the visitor to easily navigate the site. FEATURES OF GOOD WEBSITES A well-planned and designed Website will contain the following features: 1) Meet specific goals of the Site Owner 2) Contain Focused Content that appeals to the Target Market 3) Present Content that encourages Visitor Contact 4) Contain Content which improves visibility by the Search Engines 5) Easy to read, use, navigate, locate information and print 6) Integrated Visual Design theme appropriate for the Target Market 7) Controlled Quality of Technology for download speed 8) Be easily located by major Search Engines. Allow for future expansions and additions to the Website 9) Permit easy implementation of new Internet technologies CONTENT IS THE KEY TO A GOOD WEBSITE Some businesses make the mistake of placing the entire text of existing product brochures and related material into a Website. A website is not a book; it is a Marketing Communication Tool that should provide sufficient information to encourage the visitor to contact you. Your Website should generate leads for your sales force. Your website is the carrot on the stick. It should entice the visitor to request additional information. Don’t risk loosing the opportunity to close a sale by providing excessive information. The material in your existing brochures should be revised and encapsulated to achieve this goal. Furthermore, it should have focus and be written from a Marketing perspective. You can revise the text from your existing brochures to make it appropriate for your website. This is not a function that a website programmer can perform for you. Unless you want to delegate your Marketing function to a Programmer. The content should be written with key phrases that are indexed by Search Engines and used by visitors to locate Websites. Since most Search Engines use spiders or crawlers to index text from Websites, the text content of a Website is important to its ranking by these Search Engines. If your Website objective is to accept Orders Online, then specific product information should be presented in sufficient detail to encourage the visitor to place an order. WEBSITE FEATURES TO AVOID - INSTRUCT YOUR PROGRAMMER AVOID REVERSE VIDEO Reverse Video is the display of text in a light colour on a dark background colour. Avoid using Reverse Video in your Website for two reasons. First, Reverse Video will not print text, unless the reverse video is a graphic element. Second, white text on a black background is difficult to read and can cause severe eyestrain. AVOID WALL PAPER Wallpaper is a graphic display in the background with the content displayed on top of the Wallpaper. Wallpaper makes text difficult to read, particularly for people who have impaired vision. As we age, less light is emitted to the cornea and sharper contrast is required to see clearly. Unless you want to limit the legibility of your website to people under age 40 with perfect 20/20 vision, avoid the use of Wallpaper. AVOID EXCESSIVE FLASHING/GLITTER Avoid excessive flashing, glitter and text with too many different bright colours. These features are distracting to the eye and take attention away from the message. Use flashing and text colour changes sparingly. [NOTE: Use some animation in your Advertisements to attract attention.] AVOID LENGTHY DOWNLOAD TIME Although a Website page technically can be any length and contain any number of graphics, it takes too long to download, you will loose visitors to your Website. Guidelines to your download time are based upon the most common modem speed currently in use (28.8 Kbps). Each web page should download in 30 seconds or less using a 28.8 modem. In order to achieve this download speed standard a web page should not contain more than two or three graphic images and a few printed pages (based on 8-1/2 x 11" paper). Graphic images can be compressed to achieve desired download speeds. AVOID LENGTHY PAGES Although you can put an entire Library of Congress on one Website page, no one will read it if it takes forever to download! Brevity and Clarity are as important as the organization of your Website material. Additionally, your message on each page should be Written Concisely. If your web page contains too much text or if the text is too verbose, Website visitors may loose interest and leave. Revise your existing material to make it suitable for publishing in your Website. PLUG-INS Plug-Ins are the Kiss of Death to a Website. Avoid requiring a visitor to download a Plug-In to view your website. Use features which standard browsers support. AUDIO CLIPS If you use Audio Clips, offer the visitor the opportunity to turn the audio off before it plays. Sometimes a visitor may not want to disturb others at home or at work. Other times a visitor may want to play your Audio Clip. Give your visitor the option. WEBSITE HOSTING This is the act of storing websites on state-of-art computer systems called SERVERS, which are linked to the web. These servers allow anyone on the Internet to view your website. Web Hosts, provide you with computer space on a server which is linked to the web. Your website “resides” in this computer and when your domain address is requested, the server recognizes your domain address and your website is sent to whoever requested it. Several factors must be considered when selecting your hosting service. Selecting the right host to begin with, can save you grief down the road. CHOICE OF HOST Several factors must be considered when selecting your hosting service. Some of the factors that a client would want to consider before choosing an ISP (INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER) to host their websites are: C Direct Backbone connection. You want your website to be directly connected to the web, this increases the speed in which your website can be downloaded to the user. C Fibre optic DS3 Line, 45 million bits per second, this is the same line the Internet backbone runs on. C Backup T1 Lines. Its important that your Web Host is not dependent on a single line to the internet backbone, in case of technical difficulties with the main line, backups keep your website up and running. C Backup Power, in case of electrical disruption at your Web Host, you want to make sure your website stays up and running. C Disk space. This is the amount of space you are allotted on the server’s computer. This is a very important factor when deciding on a hosting service. This disk space must hold your web pages, your e-mail correspondence, your product inventory, customer information, shipping information, archives, software programs, basically everything involved with your website. As your online business grows, you want to be sure you have the disk space to handle your needs today as well as in the future. C Data transfer per month. This is your total sum of outward-bound, inward-bound, e-mail and anonymous FTP (File Transfer Protocol) traffic. Each time your web page is accessed by a visitor, there is data transfer. C FTP access. File Transfer Protocol is a method used to transfer your website and related files from your computer to your website server. C POP3 Email Accounts. These are e-mail “boxes” on the hosting server which can be accessed directly, to retrieve your mail using programs such as Outlook Express or Netscape Mail. Each POP3 account has its own password to assure privacy. CE-mail forwards. Any e-mail address at your domain can be configured to forward your e-mail to any other internet e-mail address. So if e-mail is sent to sales@yourdomain.com, it can be redirected to susan@aol.com. C Autoresponders, allow you to send an automated e-mail response to incoming mail sent to a specific address. An excellent marketing tool. C Secure Server Use, SSL, is a method that ensures information sent to your website is protected. Information is sent in an encrypted mode and is commonly used for credit card transactions. C Daily Tape Backup. All files contained in your website and related directives should daily be backed-up on tape. In the event of a computer crush, your data and files would not be lost. C CGI-bin, is a folder included with your hosting package that contain server-operated programs and software. Full access to this file allows you to import programs that can be used in conjunction with your web site. C 24-Hour Technical Support. After choosing your host, you have to agree on the domain address for your website. The ISP (Internet Service Provider) has to give you more details about the protocols they use.