Introduction To Web Technology

INTRODUCTION TO WEB TECHNOLOGY (TIT-503) UNIT I Introduction and Web Development Strategies History of Web, Protocols governing Web, Creating Websites for individual and Corporate World, Cyber Laws Web Applications, Writing Web Projects, Identification of Objects, Target Users, Web Team, Planning and Process Development.

INTRODUCTION AND WEB DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES / WEB TEAM

Internet or commonly known as WEB is defined as a network of networks. The statement ‘NETWORK OF NETWORK’ contains a hidden definition in itself. As we know that in the early stage of development in networks only homogenous systems were able to communicate. But, as the technology has grown, new technology devices and software had emerged which allow heterogeneous network to behave like a common group. Internet is collection of such heterogeneous/homogeneous networks. The technologies in internet allow one network to communicate with another transparently. These days internet is covering almost all aspects of humans daily life and therefore well defined strategies are required to develop as well as use this emerging technology. Emerging of

E-commerce and it’s vast use by banks and other corporate had lead to think about these development strategies a lot. These development and use is under a law commonly known as CYBER LAW

(Will

be

dealing

in

detail

later

on)

and

organizations/individuals are bound to follow these rules and regulations. Prior to the widespread inter-networking that led to the Internet, most communication networks were limited by their nature to only allow communications between the stations on the network, and the prevalent computer networking method was based on the central mainframe method. In the 1960s, computer researchers, Levi C. Finch and Robert W. Taylor pioneered calls for a joinedup

global

network

to

address

interoperability

problems.

Concurrently, several research programs began to research principles of networking between separate physical networks, and this led to the development of Packet switching. These included Donald Davies (NPL), Paul Baran (RAND Corporation), and Leonard Kleinrock's MIT and UCLA research programs.

This led to the development of several packet switched networking solutions in the late 1960s and 1970s, including ARPANET, and X.25. Additionally, public access and hobbyist networking systems grew in popularity, including UUCP. They were however still disjointed separate networks, served only by limited gateways between networks. This led to the application of packet switching to develop a protocol for inter-networking, where multiple different networks could be joined together into a super-framework of networks. By defining a simple common network system, the Internet protocol suite, the concept of the network could be separated from its physical implementation. This spread of internetwork began to form into the idea of a global inter-network that would be called 'The Internet', and this began to quickly spread as existing networks were converted to become compatible with this. This spread quickly across the advanced telecommunication networks of the western world, and then began to penetrate into the rest of the world as it became the de-facto international standard

and global network. However, the disparity of growth led to a Digital divide that is still a concern today. Following commercialization and introduction of privately run Internet Service Providers in the 1980s, and its expansion into popular use in the 1990s, the Internet has had a drastic impact on culture and commerce. This includes the rise of near instant communication by e-mail, text based discussion forums, the World Wide Web. Investor speculation in new markets provided by these innovations would also lead to the inflation and collapse of the Dot-com bubble, a major market collapse. But despite this, growth of the Internet continued, and still does.

HISTORY

OF

WEB

AND

WEB

GOVERNING

PROTOCOLS

In the 1950s and early 1960s, prior to the widespread internetworking that led to the Internet, most communication networks were limited by their nature to only allow communications between the stations on the network. Some networks had gateways

or bridges between them, but these bridges were often limited or built specifically for a single use. One prevalent computer networking method was based on the central mainframe method, simply allowing its terminals to be connected via long leased lines. This method was used in the 1950s by Project RAND to support researchers such as Herbert Simon, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, when collaborating across the continent with researchers in Sullivan, Illinois, on automated theorem proving and artificial intelligence. In October 1962, Licklider was appointed head of the United States Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency, now known as DARPA, within the information processing office. There he formed an informal group within DARPA to further computer research. As part of the information processing office's role, three network terminals had been installed: one for System Development Corporation in Santa Monica, one for Project Genie at the University of California, Berkeley and one for the Compatible Time-Sharing System project at the Massachusetts

Institute of Technology (MIT). Licklider's identified need for internetworking would be made obviously evident by the problems this caused. At the tip of the inter-networking problem lay the issue of connecting separate physical networks to form one logical network, with much wasted capacity inside the assorted separate networks. During the 1960s, Donald Davies (NPL), Paul Baran (RAND Corporation), and Leonard Kleinrock (MIT) developed and implemented packet switching. The notion that the Internet was developed to survive a nuclear attack has its roots in the early theories developed by RAND, but is an urban legend, not supported by any Internet Engineering Task Force or other document. Early networks used for the command and control of nuclear forces were message switched, not packet-switched, although current strategic military networks are, indeed, packetswitching and connectionless. Baran's research had approached packet switching from studies of decentralisation to avoid combat damage compromising the entire network.

Promoted to the head of the information processing office at DARPA, Robert Taylor intended to realize Licklider's ideas of an interconnected networking system. Bringing in Larry Roberts from MIT, he initiated a project to build such a network. The first ARPANET link was established between the University of California, Los Angeles and the Stanford Research Institute on 22:30 hours on October 29, 1969. By 5 December 1969, a 4-node network was connected by adding the University of Utah and the University of California, Santa Barbara. Building on ideas developed in ALOHAnet, the ARPANET grew rapidly. By 1981, the number of hosts had grown to 213, with a new host being added approximately every twenty days. ARPANET became the technical core of what would become the Internet, and a primary tool in developing the technologies used. ARPANET development was centered around the Request for Comments (RFC) process, still used today for proposing and distributing Internet Protocols and Systems. RFC 1, entitled "Host Software", was written by Steve Crocker from the University of

California, Los Angeles, and published on April 7, 1969. These early years were documented in the 1972 film Computer Networks: The Heralds of Resource Sharing. International collaborations on ARPANET were sparse. For various political reasons, European developers were concerned with developing the X.25 networks. Notable exceptions were the Norwegian Seismic Array (NORSAR) in 1972, followed in 1973 by Sweden with satellite links to the Tanum Earth Station and University College London.

X.25 AND PUBLIC ACCESS Main articles: X.25, Bulletin board system, and FidoNet Following on from ARPA's research, packet switching network standards were developed by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in the form of X.25 and related standards. In 1974, X.25 formed the basis for the SERCnet network between British academic and research sites, which later became JANET. The

initial ITU Standard on X.25 was approved in March 1976. This standard was based on the concept of virtual circuits.

The British Post Office, Western Union International and Tymnet collaborated to create the first international packet switched network, referred to as the International Packet Switched Service (IPSS), in 1978. This network grew from Europe and the US to cover Canada, Hong Kong and Australia by 1981. By the 1990s it provided a worldwide networking infrastructure.[7]

Unlike ARPAnet, X.25 was also commonly available for business use. Telenet offered its Telemail electronic mail service, but this was oriented to enterprise use rather than the general email of ARPANET. The first dial-in public networks used asynchronous TTY terminal protocols to reach a concentrator operated by the public network. Some public networks, such as CompuServe used X.25 to multiplex the terminal sessions into their packet-switched

backbones, while others, such as Tymnet, used proprietary protocols. In 1979, CompuServe became the first service to offer electronic mail capabilities and technical support to personal computer users. The company broke new ground again in 1980 as the first to offer real-time chat with its CB Simulator. There were also the America Online (AOL) and Prodigy dial in networks and many bulletin board system (BBS) networks such as FidoNet. FidoNet in particular was popular amongst hobbyist computer users, many of them hackers and amateur radio operators.

UUCP( Main articles: UUCP and Usenet ) In 1979, two students at Duke University, Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis, came up with the idea of using simple Bourne shell scripts to transfer news and messages on a serial line with nearby University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Following public release of the software, the mesh of UUCP hosts forwarding on the Usenet news rapidly expanded. UUCPnet, as it would later be named, also created gateways and links between FidoNet and dial-up BBS

hosts. UUCP networks spread quickly due to the lower costs involved, and ability to use existing leased lines, X.25 links or even ARPANET connections. By 1981 the number of UUCP hosts had grown to 550, nearly doubling to 940 in 1984.

Merging the networks and creating the Internet (TCP/IP)

INTERNET PROTOCOL SUITE With so many different network methods, something was needed to unify them. Robert E. Kahn of DARPA and ARPANET recruited Vinton Cerf of Stanford University to work with him on the problem. By 1973, they had soon worked out a fundamental reformulation, where the differences between network protocols were hidden by using a common internetwork protocol, and instead of the network being responsible for reliability, as in the ARPANET, the hosts became responsible. Cerf credits Hubert Zimmerman, Gerard LeLann and Louis Pouzin (designer of the CYCLADES network) with important work on this design.[8]

At this time, the earliest known use of the term Internet was by Vinton Cerf, who wrote: “Specification of Internet Transmission Control Program”. With the role of the network reduced to the bare minimum, it became possible to join almost any networks together, no matter what their characteristics were, thereby solving Kahn's initial problem. DARPA agreed to fund development of prototype software, and after several years of work, the first somewhat crude demonstration of a gateway between the Packet Radio network in the SF Bay area and the ARPANET was conducted. On November 22, 1977 a three network demonstration was conducted including the ARPANET, the Packet Radio Network and the Atlantic Packet Satellite network—all sponsored by DARPA. Stemming from the first specifications of TCP in 1974, TCP/IP emerged in mid-late 1978 in nearly final form. By 1981, the associated standards were published as RFCs 791, 792 and 793 and adopted for use. DARPA sponsored

or

encouraged

the

development

of

TCP/IP

implementations for many operating systems and then scheduled a migration of all hosts on all of its packet networks to TCP/IP. On 1 January 1983, TCP/IP protocols became the only approved protocol on the ARPANET, replacing the earlier NCP protocol. ARPANET to Several Federal Wide Area Networks: MILNET, NSI, and NSFNet

ARPANET and NSFNet After the ARPANET had been up and running for several years, ARPA looked for another agency to hand off the network to; ARPA's primary mission was funding cutting edge research and development, not running a communications utility. Eventually, in July 1975, the network had been turned over to the Defense Communications Agency, also part of the Department of Defense. In 1983, the U.S. military portion of the ARPANET was broken off as a separate network, the MILNET. MILNET subsequently became the unclassified but military-only NIPRNET, in parallel with the SECRET-level SIPRNET and JWICS for TOP SECRET

and above. NIPRNET does have controlled security gateways to the public Internet. The networks based around the ARPANET were government funded and therefore restricted to noncommercial uses such as research; unrelated commercial use was strictly forbidden. This initially restricted connections to military sites and universities. During the 1980s, the connections expanded to more educational institutions, and even to a growing number of companies such as Digital Equipment Corporation and Hewlett-Packard, which were participating in research projects or providing services to those who were. Several other branches of the U.S. government, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Department of Energy (DOE) became heavily involved in internet research and started development of a successor to ARPANET. In the mid 1980s all three of these branches developed the first Wide Area Networks based on TCP/IP. NASA developed the NASA Science Network, NSF

developed CSNET and DOE evolved the Energy Sciences Network or ESNet. More explicitly, NASA developed a TCP/IP based Wide Area Network, NASA Science Network (NSN), in the mid 1980s connecting space scientists to data and information stored anywhere in the world. In 1989, the DECnet-based Space Physics Analysis Network (SPAN) and the TCP/IP-based NASA Science Network (NSN) were brought together at NASA Ames Research Center creating the first multiprotocol wide area network called the NASA Science Internet, or NSI. NSI was established to provide a total integrated communications infrastructure to the NASA scientific community for the advancement of earth, space and life sciences. As a high-speed, multiprotocol, international network, NSI provided connectivity to over 20,000 scientists across all seven continents. In 1984 NSF developed CSNET exclusively based on TCP/IP. CSNET connected with ARPANET using TCP/IP, and ran TCP/IP over X.25, but it also supported departments without sophisticated

network connections, using automated dial-up mail exchange. This grew into the NSFNet backbone, established in 1986, and intended to connect and provide access to a number of supercomputing centers established by the NSF.[12] TRANSITION TOWARD AN INTERNET The term "Internet" was adopted in the first RFC published on the TCP protocol (RFC 675: Internet Transmission Control Program, December 1974). It was around the time when ARPANET was interlinked with NSFNet, that the term Internet came into more general use,[14] with "an internet" meaning any network using TCP/IP. "The Internet" came to mean a global and large network using TCP/IP. Previously "internet" and "internetwork" had been used interchangeably, and "internet protocol" had been used to refer to other networking systems such as Xerox Network Services. As interest in wide spread networking grew and new applications for it arrived, the Internet's technologies spread throughout the rest of the world. TCP/IP's network-agnostic approach meant that it was easy to use any existing network infrastructure, such as the

IPSS X.25 network, to carry Internet traffic. In 1984, University College London replaced its transatlantic satellite links with TCP/IP over IPSS. Many sites unable to link directly to the Internet started to create simple gateways to allow transfer of e-mail, at that time the most important

application.

Sites

which

only

had

intermittent

connections used UUCP or FidoNet and relied on the gateways between these networks and the Internet. Some gateway services went beyond simple e-mail peering, such as allowing access to FTP sites via UUCP or e-mail. TCP/IP BECOMES WORLDWIDE The first ARPANET connection outside the US was established to NORSAR in Norway in 1973, just ahead of the connection to Great Britain. These links were all converted to TCP/IP in 1982, at the same time as the rest of the Arpanet.

[edit] CERN, the European internet, the link to the Pacific and beyond

Between 1984 and 1988 CERN began installation and operation of TCP/IP to interconnect its major internal computer systems, workstations, PC's and an accelerator control system. CERN continued to operate a limited self-developed system CERNET internally and several incompatible (typically proprietary) network protocols externally. There was considerable resistance in Europe towards more widespread use of TCP/IP and the CERN TCP/IP intranets remained isolated from the Internet until 1989. In 1988 Daniel Karrenberg, from CWI in Amsterdam, visited Ben Segal, CERN's TCP/IP Coordinator, looking for advice about the transition of the European side of the UUCP Usenet network (much of which ran over X.25 links) over to TCP/IP. In 1987, Ben Segal had met with Len Bosack from the then still small company Cisco about purchasing some TCP/IP routers for CERN, and was able to give Karrenberg advice and forward him on to Cisco for the appropriate hardware. This expanded the European portion of the Internet across the existing UUCP networks, and in 1989 CERN

opened its first external TCP/IP connections. This coincided with the creation of Réseaux IP Européens (RIPE), initially a group of IP network administrators who met regularly to carry out coordination work together. Later, in 1992, RIPE was formally registered as a cooperative in Amsterdam. At the same time as the rise of internetworking in Europe, ad hoc networking to ARPA and in-between Australian universities formed, based on various technologies such as X.25 and UUCPNet. These were limited in their connection to the global networks, due to the cost of making individual international UUCP dial-up or X.25 connections. In 1989, Australian universities joined the push towards using IP protocols to unify their networking infrastructures. AARNet was formed in 1989 by the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee and provided a dedicated IP based network for Australia. The Internet began to penetrate Asia in the late 1980s. Japan, which had built the UUCP-based network JUNET in 1984, connected to NSFNet in 1989. It hosted the annual meeting of the

Internet Society, INET'92, in Kobe. Singapore developed TECHNET in 1990, and Thailand gained a global Internet connection between Chulalongkorn University and UUNET in 1992. DIGITAL DIVIDE While developed countries with technological infrastructures were joining the Internet, developing countries began to experience a digital divide separating them from the Internet. On an essentially continental basis, they are building organizations for Internet resource administration and sharing operational experience, as more and more transmission facilities go into place. AFRICA At the beginning of the 1990s, African countries relied upon X.25 IPSS and 2400 baud modem UUCP links for international and internetwork computer communications. In 1996 a USAID funded project, the Leland initiative, started work on developing full Internet connectivity for the continent. Guinea, Mozambique,

Madagascar and Rwanda gained satellite earth stations in 1997, followed by Côte d'Ivoire and Benin in 1998. Africa

is

building

an

Internet

infrastructure.

AfriNIC,

headquartered in Mauritius, manages IP address allocation for the continent. As do the other Internet regions, there is an operational forum, the Internet Community of Operational Networking Specialists. There are a wide range of programs both to provide highperformance transmission plant, and the western and southern coasts have undersea optical cable. High-speed cables join North Africa and the Horn of Africa to intercontinental cable systems. Undersea cable development is slower for East Africa; the original joint effort between New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the East Africa Submarine System (Eassy) has broken off and may become two efforts. ASIA AND OCEANIA The

Asia

Pacific

Network

Information

Centre

(APNIC),

headquartered in Australia, manages IP address allocation for the

continent. APNIC sponsors an operational forum, the Asia-Pacific Regional Internet Conference on Operational Technologies (APRICOT). In 1991, the People's Republic of China saw its first TCP/IP college network, Tsinghua University's TUNET. The PRC went on to make its first global Internet connection in 1995, between the Beijing

Electro-Spectrometer

Collaboration

and

Stanford

University's Linear Accelerator Center. However, China went on to implement its own digital divide by implementing a countrywide content filter. LATIN AMERICA As with the other regions, the Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry (LACNIC) manages the IP address space and other resources for its area. LACNIC, headquartered in Uruguay, operates DNS root, reverse DNS, and other key services. OPENING THE NETWORK TO COMMERCE The interest in commercial use of the Internet became a hotly debated topic. Although commercial use was forbidden, the exact

definition of commercial use could be unclear and subjective. UUCPNet and the X.25 IPSS had no such restrictions, which would eventually see the official barring of UUCPNet use of ARPANET and NSFNet connections. Some UUCP links still remained connecting to these networks however, as administrators cast a blind eye to their operation. During the late 1980s, the first Internet service provider (ISP) companies were formed. Companies like PSINet, UUNET, Netcom, and Portal Software were formed to provide service to the regional research networks and provide alternate network access, UUCP-based email and Usenet News to the public. The first dialup on the West Coast, was Best Internet[22] - now Verio, opened in 1986. The first dialup ISP in the East was world.std.com, opened in 1989. This caused controversy amongst university users, who were outraged at the idea of noneducational use of their networks. Eventually, it was the commercial Internet service providers who brought prices low enough that junior colleges and other schools

could afford to participate in the new arenas of education and research. By 1990, ARPANET had been overtaken and replaced by newer networking technologies and the project came to a close. In 1994, the NSFNet, now renamed ANSNET (Advanced Networks and Services) and allowing non-profit corporations access, lost its standing as the backbone of the Internet. Both government institutions and competing commercial providers created their own backbones and interconnections. Regional network access points (NAPs) became the primary interconnections between the many networks and the final commercial restrictions ended. IETF AND A STANDARD FOR STANDARDS The Internet has developed a significant subculture dedicated to the idea that the Internet is not owned or controlled by any one person, company, group, or organization. Nevertheless, some standardization and control is necessary for the system to function.

The liberal Request for Comments (RFC) publication procedure engendered confusion about the Internet standardization process, and led to more formalization of official accepted standards. The IETF started in January of 1985 as a quarterly meeting of U.S. government funded researchers. Representatives from nongovernment vendors were invited starting with the fourth IETF meeting in October of that year. Acceptance of an RFC by the RFC Editor for publication does not automatically make the RFC into a standard. It may be recognized as such by the IETF only after experimentation, use, and acceptance have proved it to be worthy of that designation. Official standards are numbered with a prefix "STD" and a number, similar to the RFC naming style. However, even after becoming a standard, most are still commonly referred to by their RFC number. In 1992, the Internet Society, a professional membership society, was formed and the IETF was transferred to operation under it as an independent international standards body.

NIC, InterNIC, IANA and ICANN The first central authority to coordinate the operation of the network was the Network Information Centre (NIC) at Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in Menlo Park, California. In 1972, management of these issues was given to the newly created Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). In addition to his role as the RFC Editor, Jon Postel worked as the manager of IANA until his death in 1998. As the early ARPANET grew, hosts were referred to by names, and a HOSTS.TXT file would be distributed from SRI International to each host on the network. As the network grew, this became cumbersome. A technical solution came in the form of the Domain Name System, created by Paul Mockapetris. The Defense Data Network—Network Information Center (DDN-NIC) at SRI handled all registration services, including the top-level domains (TLDs) of .mil, .gov, .edu, .org, .net, .com and .us, root nameserver administration and Internet number assignments under

a United States Department of Defense contract.[23] In 1991, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) awarded the administration and maintenance of DDN-NIC (managed by SRI up until this point) to Government Systems, Inc., who subcontracted it to the small private-sector Network Solutions, Inc. Since at this point in history most of the growth on the Internet was coming from non-military sources, it was decided that the Department of Defense would no longer fund registration services outside of the .mil TLD. In 1993 the U.S. National Science Foundation, after a competitive bidding process in 1992, created the InterNIC to manage the allocations of addresses and management of the address databases, and awarded the contract to three organizations. Registration Services would be provided by Network Solutions; Directory and Database Services would be provided by AT&T; and Information Services would be provided by General Atomics.

In 1998 both IANA and InterNIC were reorganized under the control of ICANN, a California non-profit corporation contracted by the US Department of Commerce to manage a number of Internet-related tasks. The role of operating the DNS system was privatized and opened up to competition, while the central management of name allocations would be awarded on a contract tender basis. USE AND CULTURE E-mail and Usenet E-mail is often called the killer application of the Internet. However, it actually predates the Internet and was a crucial tool in creating it. E-mail started in 1965 as a way for multiple users of a time-sharing mainframe computer to communicate. Although the history is unclear, among the first systems to have such a facility were SDC's Q32 and MIT's CTSS. The ARPANET computer network made a large contribution to the evolution of e-mail. There is one report indicating experimental inter-system e-mail transfers on it shortly after ARPANET's

creation. In 1971 Ray Tomlinson created what was to become the standard Internet e-mail address format, using the @ sign to separate user names from host names. A number of protocols were developed to deliver e-mail among groups of time-sharing computers over alternative transmission systems, such as UUCP and IBM's VNET e-mail system. E-mail could be passed this way between a number of networks, including ARPANET, BITNET and NSFNet, as well as to hosts connected directly to other sites via UUCP. In addition, UUCP allowed the publication of text files that could be read by many others. The News software developed by Steve Daniel and Tom Truscott in 1979 was used to distribute news and bulletin board-like messages. This quickly grew into discussion groups, known as newsgroups, on a wide range of topics. On ARPANET and NSFNet similar discussion groups would form via mailing lists, discussing both technical issues and more culturally focused topics (such as science fiction, discussed on the sflovers mailing list).

From gopher to the WWW As the Internet grew through the 1980s and early 1990s, many people realized the increasing need to be able to find and organize files and information. Projects such as Gopher, WAIS, and the FTP Archive list attempted to create ways to organize distributed data. Unfortunately, these projects fell short in being able to accommodate all the existing data types and in being able to grow without bottlenecks.[citation needed]

One of the most promising user interface paradigms during this period was hypertext. The technology had been inspired by Vannevar Bush's "Memex" and developed through Ted Nelson's research on Project Xanadu and Douglas Engelbart's research on NLS. Many small self-contained hypertext systems had been created before, such as Apple Computer's HyperCard. Gopher became the first commonly-used hypertext interface to the Internet.

While Gopher menu items were examples of hypertext, they were not commonly perceived in that way. In 1989, whilst working at CERN, Tim Berners-Lee invented a network-based implementation of the hypertext concept. By releasing his invention to public use, he ensured the technology would become widespread. One early popular web browser, modeled after HyperCard, was ViolaWWW. Scholars generally agree,[citation needed] however, that the turning point for the World Wide Web began with the introduction of the Mosaic web browser in 1993, a graphical browser developed by a team at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (NCSA-UIUC), led by Marc Andreessen. Funding for Mosaic came from the HighPerformance Computing and Communications Initiative, a funding program initiated by then-Senator Al Gore's High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991 also known as the Gore Bill . Indeed, Mosaic's graphical interface soon became more popular than Gopher, which at the time was primarily text-based,

and the WWW became the preferred interface for accessing the Internet. (Gore's reference to his role in "creating the Internet", however, was ridiculed in his presidential election campaign. See the full article Al Gore and information technology). Mosaic was eventually superseded in 1994 by Andreessen's Netscape Navigator, which replaced Mosaic as the world's most popular browser. While it held this title for some time, eventually competition from Internet Explorer and a variety of other browsers almost completely displaced it. Another important event held on January 11, 1994, was The Superhighway Summit at UCLA's Royce Hall. This was the "first public conference bringing together all of the major industry, government and academic leaders in the field [and] also began the national dialogue about the Information Superhighway and its implications." 24 Hours in Cyberspace, the "the largest one-day online event" (February 8, 1996) up to that date, took place on the then-active website, cyber24.com. It was headed by photographer Rick Smolan.A

photographic

exhibition

was

unveiled

at

the

Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History on 23 January 1997, featuring 70 photos from the project.[40] Search engines Even before the World Wide Web, there were search engines that attempted to organize the Internet. The first of these was the Archie search engine from McGill University in 1990, followed in 1991 by WAIS and Gopher. All three of those systems predated the invention of the World Wide Web but all continued to index the Web and the rest of the Internet for several years after the Web appeared. There are still Gopher servers as of 2006, although there are a great many more web servers. As the Web grew, search engines and Web directories were created to track pages on the Web and allow people to find things. The first full-text Web search engine was WebCrawler in 1994. Before WebCrawler, only Web page titles were searched. Another early search engine, Lycos, was created in 1993 as a university project, and was the first to achieve commercial success. During the late 1990s, both Web directories and Web search engines were popular

—Yahoo! (founded 1995) and Altavista (founded 1995) were the respective industry leaders. By August 2001, the directory model had begun to give way to search engines, tracking the rise of Google (founded 1998), which had developed new approaches to relevancy ranking. Directory features, while still commonly available, became after-thoughts to search engines. Database size, which had been a significant marketing feature through the early 2000s, was similarly displaced by emphasis on relevancy ranking, the methods by which search engines attempt to sort the best results first. Relevancy ranking first became a major issue circa 1996, when it became apparent that it was impractical to review full lists of results. Consequently, algorithms for relevancy

ranking

have

continuously

improved.

Google's

PageRank method for ordering the results has received the most press, but all major search engines continually refine their ranking methodologies with a view toward improving the ordering of results. As of 2006, search engine rankings are more important

than ever, so much so that an industry has developed ("search engine optimizers", or "SEO") to help web-developers improve their search ranking, and an entire body of case law has developed around matters that affect search engine rankings, such as use of trademarks in metatags. The sale of search rankings by some search engines has also created controversy among librarians and consumer advocates. Dot-com bubble The suddenly low price of reaching millions worldwide, and the possibility of selling to or hearing from those people at the same moment when they were reached, promised to overturn established business dogma in advertising, mail-order sales, customer relationship management, and many more areas. The web was a new killer app—it could bring together unrelated buyers and sellers in seamless and low-cost ways. Visionaries around the world developed new business models, and ran to their nearest venture capitalist. Of course some of the new entrepreneurs were truly talented at business administration, sales, and growth; but the

majority were just people with ideas, and didn't manage the capital influx prudently. Additionally, many dot-com business plans were predicated on the assumption that by using the Internet, they would bypass the distribution channels of existing businesses and therefore not have to compete with them; when the established businesses with strong existing brands developed their own Internet presence, these hopes were shattered, and the newcomers were left attempting to break into markets dominated by larger, more established businesses. Many did not have the ability to do so. The dot-com bubble burst on March 10, 2000, when the technology heavy NASDAQ Composite index peaked at 5048.62 (intra-day peak 5132.52), more than double its value just a year before. By 2001, the bubble's deflation was running full speed. A majority of the dot-coms had ceased trading, after having burnt through their venture capital and IPO capital, often without ever making a profit.

Worldwide Online Population Forecast In its "Worldwide Online Population Forecast, 2006 to 2011," JupiterResearch anticipates that a 38 percent increase in the number of people with online access will mean that, by 2011, 22 percent of the Earth's population will surf the Internet regularly. JupiterResearch says the worldwide online population will increase at a compound annual growth rate of 6.6 percent during the next five years, far outpacing the 1.1 percent compound annual growth rate for the planet's population as a whole. The report says 1.1 billion people currently enjoy regular access to the Web. North America will remain on top in terms of the number of people with online access. According to JupiterResearch, online penetration rates on the continent will increase from the current 70 percent of the overall North American population to 76 percent by 2011. However, Internet adoption has "matured," and its adoption pace has slowed, in more developed countries including the United States, Canada, Japan and much of Western Europe, notes the report.

As the online population of the United States and Canada grows by about only 3 percent, explosive adoption rates in China and India will take place, says JupiterResearch. The report says China should reach an online penetration rate of 17 percent by 2011 and India should hit 7 percent during the same time frame. This growth is directly related to infrastructure development and increased consumer purchasing power, notes JupiterResearch. By 2011, Asians will make up about 42 percent of the world's population with regular Internet access, 5 percent more than today, says the study. Penetration levels similar to North America's are found in Scandinavia and bigger Western European nations such as the United Kingdom and Germany, but JupiterResearch says that a number of Central European countries "are relative Internet laggards." Brazil "with its soaring economy," is predicted by JupiterResearch to experience a 9 percent compound annual growth rate, the fastest

in Latin America, but China and India are likely to do the most to boost the world's online penetration in the near future. For the study, JupiterResearch defined "online users" as people who regularly access the Internet by "dedicated Internet access" devices. Those devices do not include cell phones.[41] Historiography Some concerns have been raised over the historiography of the Internet's development. This is due to lack of centralised documentation for much of the early developments that led to the Internet. "The Arpanet period is somewhat well documented because the corporation in charge - BBN - left a physical record. Moving into the NSFNET era, it became an extraordinarily decentralised process. The record exists in people's basements, in closets. [...] So much of what happened was done verbally and on the basis of individual trust."

—Doug Gale

Cyberlaws Why Cyberlaws In India India became independent on 15th August, 1947. In the 49th year of Indian independence, Internet was commercially introduced in our country. The beginnings of Internet were extremely small and the growth of subscribers painfully slow. However as Internet has grown in our country, the need has been felt to enact the relevant Cyberlaws which are necessary to regulate Internet in India. This need for cyberlaws was propelled by numerous factors. Firstly, India has an extremely detailed and well-defined legal system in place. Numerous laws have been enacted and implemented and the foremost amongst them is The Constitution of India. We have interalia, amongst others, the Indian Penal Code, the Indian Evidence Act 1872, the Banker's Book Evidence Act, 1891 and the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, the Companies Act, and so on. However the arrival of Internet signalled the beginning of the rise of new and complex legal issues. It may be pertinent to mention that all the existing laws in place in India were enacted way back keeping in mind the relevant political, social, economic, and cultural scenario of that relevant time. Nobody then could really visualize about the Internet. Despite the brilliant acumen of our master draftsmen, the requirements of cyberspace could hardly ever be anticipated. As such, the coming of the Internet led to the emergence of numerous ticklish legal issues and problems which necessitated the enactment of Cyberlaws. Secondly, the existing laws of India, even with the most benevolent and liberal interpretation, could not be interpreted in the light of the emerging cyberspace, to include all aspects relating to different activities in cyberspace. In fact, the practical experience and the wisdom of judgment found that it shall not be without major perils and pitfalls, if the existing laws were to be interpreted in the scenario of emerging cyberspace, without enacting new cyberlaws. As such, the need for enactment of relevant cyberlaws. Thirdly, none of the existing laws gave any legal validity or sanction to the activities in Cyberspace. For example, the Net is used by a large majority of users for email. Yet till today, email is not "legal" in our country. There is no law in the country, which gives legal validity, and sanction to email. Courts and

judiciary in our country have been reluctant to grant judicial recognition to the legality of email in the absence of any specific law having been enacted by the Parliament. As such the need has arisen for Cyberlaw. Fourthly, Internet requires an enabling and supportive legal infrastructure in tune with the times. This legal infrastructure can only be given by the enactment of the relevant Cyberlaws as the traditional laws have failed to grant the same. E-commerce, the biggest future of Internet, can only be possible if necessary legal infrastructure compliments the same to enable its vibrant growth. All these and other varied considerations created the conducive atmosphere for the need for enacting relevant cyberlaws in India. The Government of India responded by coming up with the draft of the first Cyberlaw of India - The Information Technology Bill, 1999. One question that is often asked is why should we have Cyberlaw in India, when a large chunk of the Indian population is below the poverty line and is residing in rural areas ? More than anything else, India, by its sheer numbers, as also by virtue of its extremely talented and ever growing IT population, is likely to become a very important Internet market in the future and it is important that we legislate Cyberlaws in India to provide for a sound legal and technical frame work which, in turn, could be a catalyst for growth and success of the Internet Revolution in India.

SUPPORTIVE CYBER LAW • Existing Statutes 1. Communications and Multimedia Act 1998(CMA) 2. Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission Act 1998 3. Digital Signature Act 1997 4. Computer Crimes Act 1997 5. Copyright Act (Amendment) Act 1997 6. Telemedicine Act 1997 7.

Optical Discs Act 2000

• Amendments of Statutes 1. Communications and Multimedia (Amendment) Bill 2004 2.

Communications

and

Multimedia

(Amendment) Bill 2004. • Proposed Statutes 1. Personal Data Protection Act 2. Electronic Transactions Act (ETA) 3. E-Government Activities Act (EGA) 4. New Subsidiary Legislations

Commission

COMMUNICATIONS AND MULTIMEDIA ACT 1998

MAIN MAINFEATURES FEATURES Transparent Pro-Competition

The “mother” cyber law that provides for legislative, regulatory and institutional framework to cater for the convergence of the telecommunications, broadcasting and computing industries.

Less Regulation Flexible and Generic Emphasize Process Rather than Content Industry Self-Discipline Regulatory Forebearance

REGULATORY FRAMEWORK (NEW LICENSING STRUCTURE)

• LICENCE o

INDIVIDUAL / CLASS  Network Facilities  Network Services  Content Application Services  Application Services

LICENSES ISSUED UNDER ACT 588 LICENSE Network Facilities Provider (NFP)

INDIVIDUAL

31

CLASS

24

Network Service Provider (NSP)

30

24

Application Service Provider (ASP)

80

95

Content Application Service Provider (CASP)

20

-

161

143

TOTAL

NEW AND MIGRATION LICENSES UNDER ACT 588 (INDIVIDUAL LICENSES)

LICENSES

MIGRATION

NEW

TOTAL

Network Facilities Provider

20

11

31

(NFP) Network Service Provider

19

11

30

(NSP) Application Service Provider

16

64

80

(ASP) Content Application Service

19

1

20

Provider (CASP) Total

74

87

161

DEVELOPMENT SINCE ACT 588

1. VISIBLE INCREASE IN CELLULAR PENETRATION -From 12% or 2.7 million subscribers in 1999 to 43.6% or 11 million subscribers in 2003* 2. INCREASE IN INTERNET USERS -

From 2.0 million in 1999 to 8.7 million in 2003*

3. MORE CHOICES FOR CONSUMERS AND LOWER COSTS OF SERVICES - Streamyx service reduced by 30% - Lower charges for mobile services - More “free to air” TV stations – Channel 9, 8TV

INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK MINISTER •

MCMC INDUSTRY FORUMS

•

MECM TRIBUNAL

COMMUNICATIONS AND MULTIMEDIA COMMISSION ACT 1998 Power to establish an independent body to: 1.

Enforce legislation (CMA 1998)

2.

Regulate industry

3.

Promote Industry Development

4.

Promote Industry Self-Regulation

DIGITAL SIGNATURE ACT 1997 An Act to legalise digital signature Facilitate e-commerce and secure on- line transaction through the use of digital signatures Establishment of Certification Authority as the body responsible in issuing PKI, Private key, warranties and liabilities.

COMPUTER CRIME ACT 1997

The Act provides for: protection to companies, government and individuals from computer crimes in the digital era; clear definitions on criminal activities related to use of computers such as cyber fraud, illegal access, interceptions, and illegal use of computers.

COMPUTER CRIME ACT 1997 The Act provides for: protection to companies, government and individuals from computer crimes in the digital era; clear definitions on criminal activities related to use of computers such as cyber fraud, illegal access, interceptions, and illegal use of computers.

COMPUTER CRIME ACT 1997 Under-reporting of cyber crimes:  Maintaining their business and making profit;  Unwillingness to go through the legal process;  Expose confidential business information;  No provision for victim to receive restitution for the damage suffered.

COPYRIGHT ACT(A) 1997 Provides protection for multimedia works. Reflects up-to-date developments in copy rights issue. Clarify legal issues in digital transmission, use of multimedia and its components.

TELEMEDICNE ACT(A) 1997 Provisions to regulate telemedicine activities:  Registration for practitioners;  Telemedicine practices by foreign practitioners; and  Medical

data

prescription

management

and

electronic

CELLULAR PENETRATION BETWEEN SELECTED COUNTRIES 2002 90

84.49 79.14

80

67.95

70

62.11

60 48.81

50

37.3

40

26.04

30

16.09

20 10

1.22

0 UK

Singapore Korea, Rep

Japan

USA

Malaysia

Thailand

China

India

Source: ITU@2003

COMPUTER AND INTERNET PENETRATION Computer Ownership - 4.2 Juta (16.7 %) Internet Penetration - 2.9 Juta (11.4 %)

18.0

16.7

16.0

14.5

14.0

12.5

%

12.0 9.4

10.0 8.0

10.5

7.9

11.4

8.8 7.1

6.1

6.0 4.0 2.0

1.8

2.9

1998

1999

2000 PCs

2001

2002

2003

Internet subscribers

Sumber : MCMC

INTERNET PENETRATION BETWEEN SELECTED COUNTRIES 2002 60

55.2

54.0

53.8

50

44.9 40.6

40 31.6 30 20 7.8

10 0

Korea, Rep

Singapore

USA

Japan

UK

Malaysia

Thailand

4.6 China

1.6 India

Source: ITU@2003

BROADBAND PENETRATION RATES (%) AMONG SELECTED ASIAN COUNTRIES IN 2002 25 20

14.5m

15 465k

10

640k

5

196k

0 S o u t h K oHr oe na g K o nTga iw a n S i n g a p o r eC h in a M A L 1.5m A Y S TI Ah a i l a n19k d In d i a %

1 9 .2 9

1 3 .3

9 .1 5

6 .1 3

0 .1 2

0 .0 8

0 .0 5

0 .0 2

Source: Frost & Sullivan

AMENDMENT OF STATUTES. THE

COMMUNICATIONS

AND

MULTIMEDIA

(AMENDMENT) BILL 2003 PURPOSE OF AMENDMENTS:  TO

INSERT

THE

NECESSARY

SUBSTANTIVE

PROVISIONS FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN INDEPENDENT APPEAL TRIBUNAL; AND

 TO STRENGHTHEN THE CURRENT REGULATORY AND LICENSING REGIME.

AMENDMENTS - SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATIONS UNDER THE COMMUNICATIONS AND MULTIMEDIA ACT 1998  Communications and Multimedia (Licensing) Regulations 2000;  Communications and Multimedia (Spectrum) Regulations 2000;  Communications

and

Multimedia

(Technical

Standards)

Regulations 2000;  Communications and Multimedia (Spectrum) (Exemption) Order 2000;  Communications and Multimedia (Licensing) (Exemption) Order 2000  Communications and Multimedia (USP) Regulations 2002  Communications and Multimedia (Rates) Rules 2002  Notification of Issuance of Class Assignments

ENACTMENT OF NEW LAWS To provide legal certainty for e-transactions undertaken by businesses or Government, two new legislations will be introduced:- Electronic Transactions Bill – to address electronic transactions and communications. - E-Government Activities Bill – to support and promote electronic government.

PRIVACY AND INFORMATION SECURITY

ENSURING ON-LINE TRUST AND CONFIDENCE

Two aspects related to on-line trust and confidence: Privacy and personal data protection (PDP); and Security of electronic transactions.

PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION BILL

Promote secured electronic environment

PDP Protect personal data

Enhance consumer trust and confidence

Encourage electronic transactions

Privacy is a Shared Responsibility Roles to play for individuals, industry, and government. Individuals should be able to make informed choices and be protected from harm & fraud Industry should ensure fair information practices. In some areas, Governments must choose whether to limit individual control over data to achieve larger societal benefits (e.g. security, health etc.). A balanced approach enables individuals to benefit from responsible commercial uses of personal information

WEB APPLICATION/WRITING WEB PROJECTS/ WEB OBJECTS/ WEB USERS In software engineering, a Web application is an application that is accessed via Web browser over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. It is also a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language (such as HTML, JavaScript, Java, etc.) and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable. Web applications are popular due to the ubiquity of a client, sometimes called a thin client. The ability to update and maintain Web applications without distributing and installing software on potentially thousands of client computers is a key reason for their popularity. Common Web applications include Webmail, online retail sales, online auctions, wikis, discussion boards, Weblogs, MMORPGs and many other functions.

History In earlier types of client-server computing, each application had its own client program which served as its user interface and had to be separately installed on each user's personal computer. An upgrade to the server part of the application would typically require an upgrade to the clients installed on each user workstation, adding to the support cost and decreasing productivity. In contrast, Web applications dynamically generate a series of Web documents in a standard format supported by common browsers such as HTML/XHTML. Client-side scripting in a standard language such as JavaScript is commonly included to add dynamic elements to the user interface. Generally, each individual Web page is delivered to the client as a static document, but the sequence of pages can provide an interactive

experience, as user input is returned through Web form elements embedded in the page markup. During the session, the Web browser interprets and displays the pages, and acts as the universal client for any Web application.

Interface Webconverger operating system provides an interface for web applications. The Web interface places very few limits on client functionality. Through Java, JavaScript, DHTML, Flash and other technologies, application-specific methods such as drawing on the screen, playing audio, and access to the keyboard and mouse are all possible. Many services have worked to combine all of these into a more familiar interface that adopts the appearance of an operating system. General purpose techniques such as drag and drop are also supported by these technologies. Web developers often use client-side scripting to add functionality, especially to create an interactive experience that does not require page reloading (which many users find disruptive)[citation needed]. Recently, technologies have been developed to coordinate client-side scripting with server-side technologies such as PHP. Ajax, a web development technique using a combination of various technologies, is an example of technology which creates a more interactive experience.

Technical considerations A significant advantage of building Web applications to support standard browser features is that they should perform as specified regardless of the operating system or OS version installed on a given client. Rather than creating clients for MS Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems, the application can be written once and deployed almost anywhere. However, inconsistent implementations of the HTML, CSS, DOM and other browser specifications can cause problems in web application development and support. Additionally, the ability of users to customize many of the display settings of their browser (such as selecting different font sizes, colors, and typefaces, or disabling scripting support) can interfere with consistent implementation of a Web application. Another approach is to use Adobe Flash or Java applets to provide some or all of the user interface. Since most Web browsers include support for these technologies (usually through plug-ins), Flash- or Java-based applications can be implemented with much of the same ease of deployment. Because they allow the programmer greater control over the interface, they bypass many browser-configuration issues, although incompatibilities between Java or Flash implementations on the client can introduce different complications. Because of their architectural similarities to traditional client-server applications, with a somewhat "thick" client, there is some dispute over whether to call

systems of this sort "Web applications"; an alternative term is "Rich Internet Application" (RIA).

Structure Though many variations are possible, a Web application is commonly structured as a three-tiered application. In its most common form, a Web browser is the first tier, an engine using some dynamic Web content technology (such as ASP, ASP.NET, CGI, ColdFusion, JSP/Java, PHP,embPerl, Python, or Ruby on Rails) is the middle tier, and a database is the third tier. The Web browser sends requests to the middle tier, which services them by making queries and updates against the database and generates a user interface. But there are some who view a web application as a Two-Tier architecture.

Business use An emerging strategy for application software companies is to provide Web access to software previously distributed as local applications. Depending on the type of application, it may require the development of an entirely different browser-based interface, or merely adapting an existing application to use different presentation technology. These programs allow the user to pay a monthly or yearly fee for use of a software application without having to install it on a local hard drive. A company which follows this strategy is known as an application service provider (ASP), and ASPs are currently receiving much attention in the software industry.

Writing Web applications There are many Web application frameworks which facilitate rapid application development by allowing the programmer to define a high-level description of the program. In addition, there is potential for the development of applications on Internet operating systems, although currently there are not many viable platforms that fit this model. The use of Web application frameworks can often reduce the number of errors in a program, both by making the code more simple, and by allowing one team to concentrate just on the framework. In applications which are exposed to constant hacking attempts on the Internet, security-related problems caused by errors in the program are a big issue. Frameworks may also promote the use of best practices such as GET after POST.

Web Application Security The Web Application Security Consortium (WASC) and OWASP are projects developed with the intention of documenting how to avoid security problems in Web applications. A

Web Application Security Scanner is specialized software for detecting security problems in web applications.

Applications Wikipedia application running in Mozilla Firefox. Browser applications typically include simple office software (word processors, spreadsheets, and presentation tools) and can also include more advanced application such as project management software, CAD Design Software, and point-of-sale applications. Examples Word processor and Spreadsheet: Google Docs & Spreadsheets • CRM Software: SalesForce.com •

Benefits Browser Applications typically require little or no disk space, upgrade automatically with new features, integrate easily into other web procedures, such as email and searching. They also provide cross-platform compatibility (i.e Mac or Windows) because they operate within a web browser window.

Disadvantages Standards compliance is an issue with any non-typical office document creator, which causes problems when file sharing and collaboration becomes critical. Also, Browser Applications rely on application files accessed on remote servers through the internet. Therefore, when connection is interrupted, the application is no longer usable. Google Gears is a beta platform to combat this issue and improve the usability of Browser Applications.

As the Internet grew into a major player on the global economic front, so did the number of investors who were interested in its development. So, you may wonder, how does the Internet continue to play a major role in communications, media and news? The key words are: Web Application Projects. Web applications are business strategies and policies implemented on the Web through the use of User, Business and Data services. These tools are where the future lies. In this article, I'll take you through the essential phases in the life cycle of a Web application project, explain what options you have, and help you formulate a plan for successful Web application endeavors of your own. First, though, let's take a brief overview of Web applications. Who Needs Web Applications and Why? There are many entities that require applications for the Webone example would be Business-to-Business interaction. Many companies in the world today demand to do business with each other over secure and private networks. This process is becoming increasingly popular with a lot of overseas companies who outsource projects to each other. From the simple process of transferring funds into a bank account, to deploying a large scale Web services network that updates pricing information globally, the adoption of a Web applications infrastructure is vital for many businesses. The Web Application Model

The Web application model, like many software development models, is constructed upon 3 tiers: User Services, Business Services and Data Services. This model breaks an application into a network of consumers and suppliers of services. The User Service tier creates a visual gateway for the consumer to interact with the application. This can range from basic HTML and DHTML to complex COM components and Java applets. The user services then grab business logic and procedures from the Business Services. This tier can range from Web scripting in ASP/PHP/JSP to server side programming such as TCL, CORBA and PERL, that allows the user to perform complex actions through a Web interface. The final tier is the Data Service layer. Data services store, retrieve and update information at a high level. Databases, file systems, and writeable media are all examples of Data storage and retrieval devices. For Web applications, however, databases are most practical. Databases allow developers to store, retrieve, add to, and update categorical information in a systematic and organized fashion. Choosing the Right Project

Choosing the right types of projects to work on is an extremely important part of the Web application development plan. Assessing your resources, technical skills, and publishing capabilities should be your first goal. Taking the 3 tiers into consideration, devise a list of all available resources that can be categorically assigned to each tier. The next consideration should be the cost. Do you have a budget with which to complete this project? How much will it cost you to design, develop and deliver a complete project with a fair amount of success? These are questions that should be answered before you sign any deals or contracts. Let's look at an example. A company called ABC needs to develop a Web application that will display sales information created by different sales agents. The data is updated daily through a completely automated process from all 3 service tiers. The client tells you that this entire project must be done in ASP/SQL server and that you should host the application as well. After assessing all your resources, you and your team come to a conclusion that the company is unable to do data backups on a daily basis. After further discussion, you realize that this is a very important part of the setup for your client, and you should not risk taking a chance with the project. It's very likely that you will be more prepared next time around, when a similar project lands on your desk, so you decline the job and recommend someone else who has the capabilities to do it right now. The Phases in a Web Application Project The Web application development process has 4 phases:

1. Envisioning the nature and direction of the project 2. Devising the plan 3. Development 4. Testing, support and stability Let's look at each of these in more detail. 1. Envisioning the nature and direction of the project In this phase, the management and developers assigned to the project come together and establish the goals that the solution must achieve. This includes recognizing the limitations that are placed on the project, scheduling, and versioning of the application. By the end of this phase, there should be clear documentation on what the application will achieve. 2. Devising the plan In this phase, you and your team must determine the "how's" of the application. What scripting language is most appropriate, which features must be included, and how long will it take? These are some of the questions that must be answered through this planning phase. The main tangents at this point are the project plan and functional specification. The project plan determines a timeframe of events and tasks, while the functional specification outlines in detail how the application will function and flow. 3. Development

Once the project plan and functional specification are ready, a baseline is set for the development work to begin. The programmer/s or Web developer/s begin coding, testing and publishing data. This phase establishes the data variables, entities and coding procedures that will be used throughout the remainder of the project. A milestone document is prepared by the development team, which is then handed to management for review. 4. Testing, support and stability The stability phase of the application project mainly focuses on testing and the removal of bugs, discrepancies and network issues that may otherwise cause the application to fail. It is here that policies and procedures are established for a successful support system. Planning for a Successful Web Development Project In order to drastically minimize the risk of project failure, I've always approached my application development projects in the following sequence. 1. Identify business logic and entities Start by gathering information on everything you have. If you are going to be working with databases, begin by enumerating how many entities will be used in the business logic. For example, if your program implements sales data, a sales ticket would be an entity. Once you've identified all your entities, establish a clear guideline for their relationships. This can be done via presentations, flowcharts or even reports.

2. Create a functional specification and project plan This part, in my opinion, is the most important part of the project. Functional specifications (or functional specs) are a map, or blueprint for how you want a particular Web application to look and work. The spec details what the finished product will do, user interaction, and its look and feel. An advantage of writing a functional spec is that it streamlines the development process. It takes discrepancies and guesswork out of the programming process, because the level of detail that goes into the plan makes it possible to minimize the misunderstanding that's usually associated with project mishaps. See examples of well written functional specs at RayComm.com. Once the functional spec is finished, a project plan must be devised. A project plan is a timeline of tasks and events that will take place during the project. The project or program manager is normally the person who creates a project plan, and their primary focus is to detail task notes while being able to accommodate scheduling and resource information. You can download a sample Excel file for a project plan at Method123.com. 3. Bring the application model into play As discussed earlier, the application model consists of 3 tiers The User, Business and Data service tiers, each of which serves a substantial purpose. Practically speaking, it's always best to start with the data tier, because you've already identified your entities and understand their relationships. The data tier can be an SQL server database, a text file, or even the powerful and robust Oracle. Create tables, relationships, jobs, and procedures depending on what

platform you have chosen. If the data is a warehouse (i.e. the data already exists and does not depend on real time interaction), then make sure that new and additional data can be added securely and in a scalable fashion. A quick tip: using views in SQL server/Oracle can improve dramatically the productivity and performance of your application. They increase speed because they are "stored queries" that don't have a physical existence. The Business services tier, in my opinion, is the heart of the application. It involves the implementation of business logic into the scripting or programming language. At this stage, make sure you've already set up your environment for testing and debugging. Always test on at least 2 instances in your application, after all, what may work perfectly for you, may not do so well on other platforms or machines. ASP, XML, PHP, JSP and CGI are some examples of server side scripting languages used at the business service level. Whichever language you choose, make sure that it's capable of handling all the business logic presented in the functional specification. The last is the user tier, which is absolutely vital for the interactive and strategic elements in the application. It provides the user with a visual gateway to the business service by placing images, icons, graphics and layout elements in strategic areas of interest, most commonly, based on management research. If you'll be developing the user tier yourself, be sure to have studied your competition. The last thing you need is for your application to look exactly the same as someone else's. 4. Develop a support scheme

Being able to support and stabilize your application is very important. Define a procedure call for cases of failure, mishaps or even downtime. Give your customers the ability to contact you in the case of an emergency relating to the program. A good example of a support scheme is a ticket tracking system. This system allows users to file cases pertaining to a support request and the support team, then makes the case track able. This means that the request is identifiable by a unique code or number. Although ticket-tracking systems are normally used by hosting companies or large scale ASP's (Application Service Providers), they still serve a valuable purpose in helping keep the application stable.