|
|
by William Robert Stanek
An entire universe is growing in cyberspace. The Internet connects over 50,000 computer networks and 6 million host computers worldwide. Almost every country in the world and some 50 million people have access to the Internet. Even more incredible, in less than two years, the number of users is expected to double, which means more than 100 million people on the global Internet by the end of 1998. The segment of the Internet driving this tremendous growth is the World Wide Web. Not only can you reach these millions of consumers on the Web, you can do so in ways that are limited only by your imagination.
In 1995 alone, more than 8 million people gained access to the Web. The source of this increase was primarily commercial online services, such as CompuServe, Prodigy, and America Online, which offer their users full access to the Internet. When these figures are added to a conservative growth rate of 10 percent per month for new users of the Web, this means 25 to 50 million people are using the Web as of late 1996.
This chapter gives you the essential background for success in developing and planning your Web site and plenty of information that will help you make important preliminary decisions about your Web site.
| Note |
This chapter explores everything from navigating the Web to examining your access needs, but it's not a step-by-step guide to setting up a Web site. If you're looking for a guide to creating a Web site, see Chapter 49, "Designing and Publishing a Killer Web Site." |
If you've browsed the Web before, you know that navigating the Web can be as easy as activating a hypertext link-you just move your mouse pointer to the link and click the left mouse button. Text containing a hypertext link is underlined and usually displayed in a different color from other text on the page. By default, most browsers display links that you haven't visited in blue and links that you have visited in purple or light red.
When you move your mouse pointer over a link, most browsers display the URL path to the file or object that will be retrieved if you activate the link. This is useful to identify the type of file the link is referring to.
| Note |
With some browsers, you can select the color of text on the page. The four basic color definitions you can assign to text specify the color of ordinary text, unvisited links, active links, and visited links. In HTML 3.2, you, as the Web publisher, can define the color of text on the page. These color definitions generally override color definitions defined in the user's HTML 3.2-compliant browser. |
Following text-based links on Web pages is easy, but following links embedded in graphic objects sometimes isn't. Some images are displayed on the page with a distinctive blue border; this type of clickable image is easy to identify. However, others have no borders at all, primarily because of extensions to HTML that enable Web publishers to suppress the border around images; also, other extensions to HTML enable Web publishers to place borders around images that can't be clicked on. So how do you know when an image is clickable if it has no distinctive border?
One way to tell is to move your mouse pointer over the image. If your browser shows that a URL path is associated with the image, you can click on it. The site featured in Figure 2.1 has a well-designed image map. When you move the mouse pointer over the figure as shown, a reference URL is shown on the browser's status bar. Alternately, some browsers change the pointer to a hand if an image is clickable.
Figure 2.1 : An image map used at Planet Direct.
As you point and click your way through the Web, you probably don't stop to think about the URLs you're using to find Web resources. However, as a Web publisher, you should stop and think about them. One of the hottest sites on the Web is the Jose Cuervo Web Site featured in Figure 2.2. I wholeheartedly recommend stopping by and blending up some critter drinks, but first, take a closer look at the page URL.
Figure 2.2 : The Jose Cuervo Web site.
The page URL http://www.cuervo.com/main.html tells a browser to use the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) to get a file called main.html on the www.cuervo.com Web server. However, URLs are much more powerful and complex than this simple example, so the next section examines the structure of URLs and how they are used on the Web.
URLs give you a uniform way of identifying resources that are available by using Internet protocols (IP). To better understand URLs, you need to know about URL schemes and formats, how URLs are defined, and how to use escape codes in URLs.
The standard naming scheme is what makes URLs so versatile. URL schemes name the protocol the client will use to access and transfer the file. Web clients use the name of the protocol to determine the format for the information that follows the protocol name. Here are two general formats:
protocol://host name:port/path_to_resource protocol://user name:password@host name:port/path_to_resource
| Note |
If you use a DOS/Windows-based system, you normally type a backslash to change directories and maneuver around the system. Consequently, you might have to remind yourself that the Web follows the UNIX syntax for slashes, and the slashes you type for URLs should be forward slashes. |
Host name information used in URLs identifies the address to a
host and is broken down into two or more parts separated by periods.
The periods separate domain information from the host name. Common
domain names for Web servers begin with www, such as www.tvp.com,
which identifies the Web server called tvp in the commercial
domain. Domains you can specify in your URLs include the following:
| Commercial sites | |
| Education sites | |
| Nonmilitary government sites | |
| Military sites | |
| Network sites (developers, Internet Service Providers, and so on) | |
| Organizational sites |
Ports are rather like telephone jacks on the Web server. The server has certain ports allocated for certain things, such as port 80 for incoming requests for hypertext documents. The server listens on a particular port. When it hears something, in essence, it picks up the phone and connects the particular port.
Port information used in URLs identifies the port number to be
used for the connection. If you don't specify a port number, a
default value is assumed as needed. Generally, you don't have
to specify port numbers in your URLs unless the connection will
be made to a port other than the default. Default values for ports
are defined in the URL specification, as follows:
| File Transfer Protocol (FTP) | |
| Gopher | |
| HTTP | |
| Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) | |
| telnet | |
| wide area information server (WAIS) |
By specifying the user name and password information in a URL, users can log in to a system automatically. The two protocols that use both user name and password information are FTP and telnet. In a FTP session, the user name and password information are often used to let users log in to FTP servers anonymously. When a connection is made to a FTP server and user name and password information aren't specified, the following default values are assumed: anonymous for user name and the user's e-mail address as the password.
In telnet, there are no default values. If the user name and password aren't supplied, the user is prompted for this information. To avoid this, you could allow users to log in automatically by specifying a user and password in your URL. However, you usually don't want to specify a personal password in a URL, so if you want users to be able to log in automatically using telnet, you should create a guest account with a generic password.
The final part of a URL is the path to the resource. This path generally follows the directory structure from the root or slash directory to the resource specified in the URL. A completely specified path to a resource is called an absolute path. You can also specify a path to a resource in relation to the current directory. You will learn more about specifying paths to resources in Chapter 4, "Creating Web Documents with HTML."
Most protocol schemes follow the two general forms of URLs discussed earlier. Protocol schemes conforming to the CISS standard use the double slashes. CISS-compliant protocols are FTP, Gopher, HTTP, NNTP, WAIS, and File. Protocols that don't conform to the CISS standard-such as Mailto and News-omit the double slashes. Table 2.1 shows the URL schemes associated with each protocol.
| Note |
In Chapter 4 you will learn how to refer to alternative protocols in your Web documents. |
| Description/Protocol | URL Format | |
| File transfer protocol | ftp://user name:password@host name:port/path_to_resource | |
| Gopher protocol | gopher://host name:port/path_to_resource | |
| Hypertext transfer protocol | http://hostname:port/path_to_resource | |
| Electronic mail address | mailto:user name@host | |
| Usenet news | news:newsgroup-name news:message-number | |
| Usenet news accessed with Network News Transfer Protocol | nntp://host name/newsgroup-name | |
| Remote login sessions | telnet:/user name:password@host name:port | |
| Wide area information servers | wais://host name:port/database | |
| Files on local host | file://host name/path_to_resource |
URLs consist of characters defined by the ASCII character set, and the URL specification allows for the use of uppercase and lowercase letters. Most Web publishers use only lowercase letters in their URLs, so most Web documents and object files are named in lowercase letters, too. If you are on a system that has case-sensitive file naming, such as UNIX, then naming your files in lowercase letters helps avoid possible conflicts.
Although URLs consist of characters defined by the ASCII character set, you can't use all ASCII characters in your URLs. You can use the letters a-z, the numerals 0-9, and a few special characters, such as the following:
You are limited to these characters because other characters used
in URLs have specific meanings, as shown in Table 2.2.
| Meaning | Example | |
| The colon is a separator. It separates protocol from therest of the URL scheme.
<>
It separates host name from the port number. It separates user name from the password. | http://tvp.com/vpfound.html
http://www.tvp.com:80/ ftp://anonymous:william@tvp .com/vpinfo.txt | |
| The double slash marks indicate that the protocol uses the format defined by the Common Internet Scheme Syntax.
This protocol follows the CISS format. This protocol does not follow the CISS format. | ftp://tvp.com/vpinfo.txt
news:newsgroup-name | |
| The slash is a separator used to separate the path from host name and port. The slash is also used to /usr/cgi-bin/useit.pl denote the directory path to the resource named in the URL. | http://tvp.com/vphp.html | |
| The tilde is generally used at the beginning of the path to indicate that the resource is in the specified user's public html directory. | http://www.aloha.com/~william | |
| The percent sign identifies an escape code, which is used to specify special characters in URLs that otherwise have a special meaning or are not allowed. | gopher://unm.edu/books english/Book%20Table%20of %20Contents | |
| The at symbol is used to separate user name and/or password information from the host name in the URL. | mailto:william@tvp.com | |
| The question mark is used in the URL path to specify the beginning of a query string. Query strings are passed to CGI scripts. All the information following the question mark is data the user submitted and is not interpreted as part of the file path. | /usr/cgi-bin/useit.pl?keyword | |
| The plus sign is used in query strings as a placeholder between words. Instead of using spaces to separate words the user has entered in the query, the browser substitutes the plus sign. | /usr/cgi-bin/useit.pl? word1+word2+word3 | |
| The equal sign is used in query strings to separate the key assigned by the publisher from the value entered by the user. In the sample URL, user name is the key assigned by the publisher and the value entered by the user is william. | /usr/cgi-bin/useit.pl?user name=william | |
| The ampersand is used in query strings to separate sets of keys and values. In the sample URL, name is the first key assigned by the publisher and the value entered by the user is william. The second key assigned by the publisher is question, and the value entered by the user is why+not. | /usr/cgi-bin/query.pl? name=william&question=why+not | |
| The caret symbol is reserved for future use. | ||
| The curly braces are reserved for future use. | ||
| The brackets are reserved for future use. |
To make URLs even more versatile, the specification enables you to use escape codes in URLs. Escape codes are used to specify special characters in URLs that are either reserved or not otherwise allowed. They are particularly useful for protocols (such as Gopher) that allow resources to be defined with spaces between words. For example, to use the Gopher resource Book Table of Contents, you would have to rewrite the resource name using the escape code for spaces. The percent sign identifies an escape code, and the number following the percent sign identifies the character being escaped; therefore, the escape code for a space is a percent sign followed by the number 20. To use the preceding resource name in a URL, you would rewrite it as follows:
Book%20Table%20of%20Contents
Using the ISO Latin 1 character set, you can determine the values
for characters you need to escape. To do this, you convert the
decimal value defined in the character set to a hexadecimal value.
The decimal value for a space is 32. When you convert this decimal
value to hexadecimal, the resulting value is 20. Table 2.3 shows
common character values from the ISO Latin 1 character set and
the associated escape codes.
| Character Description | ||
| Tab | ||
| Space | ||
| Number sign (#) | ||
| Percent sign (%) | ||
| Ampersand (&) | ||
| Apostrophe (') | ||
| Question mark (?) | ||
| At symbol (@) | ||
| Caret symbol (^) |
| Tip |
When you use escape codes such as %09 for a tab, be sure to include the zero. The computer will interpret the hexadecimal value 09 as a tab. |
The Web is a powerful interface to everything the Internet has to offer. When most people think of the Internet, they think of the dynamic environment that enables them to search through and access complex webs of text, graphics, sound, and video. In short, they equate the Web with the Internet-and that's because the Web has swallowed the Net.
The Web was born at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN), and it should be no surprise that universities, colleges, and research institutes represent some of the largest segments of Web publishers. Some of the most wonderful Web sites are created by college students and research scientists. These same students and researchers also represent most of the innovators creating new technologies for the Web.
Web sites created by research and educational organizations are plentiful, but their presence has been dwarfed in recent months by commercial sites. Thousands of businesses are already plugged into the Internet and have built some of the hottest sites on the Web, attracting thousands of visitors every day. One of these hot sites is found at Pepsi (www.pepsi.com). Pepsi's Psychotropic Sundae page is featured in Figure 2.3.
Figure 2.3 : Anyone for a Psychotropic Sundae?
Not all the companies running commercial sites are multibillion dollar conglomerates with thousands of employees. Many commercial sites are run by startup companies who represent small groups of entrepreneurs with big dreams, and others are mom-and-pop businesses from down the street and home businesses run from the kitchen table.
An original mom-and-pop kind of business is Ben & Jerry's. Ben & Jerry's is a phenomenal success story because someone there recognized the importance of larger-than-life marketing to customers across the country. Today, Ben & Jerry's continues a tradition of powerful marketing on their Web site, shown in Figure 2.4. At this site, you will find excellent multimedia productions with RealAudio and Shockwave. The URL to this site is http://www.benjerry.com.
Figure 2.4 : Ben and Jerry's site is fully enhanced with RealAudio and Shockwave.
| Note |
For more information on using the latest audio technologies in your Web pages, see Chapter 23, "Creating Online Audio." To learn more about Macromedia's powerhouse called Shockwave, refer to Chapter 25, "Adding Interactivity with Shockwave for Director." |
Behind the massive wave of companies and entrepreneurs carving their niche in cyberspace, the governments of the world watch. They know what commerce without national borders, tariffs, and taxes means to global markets and aren't sure how to regulate it-or even whether they can regulate it. Many governments are doing much more than watching; they're taking active roles in developing the Internet and fostering its growth with funding. Government agencies are publishing their own Web sites loaded with useful information. U.S. government agencies publishing on the Web include the Environmental Protection Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Census Bureau, and a very humorous site from the IRS.
There's a one-stop index to government resources on the Web at the University of Michigan's Document Center. The home page for the list, fittingly called "Government Resources on the Web," is shown in Figure 2.5. This definitive list has links to government sites the world over. If any country's government has a site on the Web, you'll find the links to it in this list. The URL to this site is http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/Documents.center/govwebnew.html.
Figure 2.5 : Find just about any government resource on the Web at this page.
Although many Web publishers represent organizations, this isn't always the case-a growing number of Web publishers are individuals who want to share their ideas and interests with the world. They aren't publishing on the Web to make a profit; they're doing it because it's fun to create something people around the world will see, it's challenging to test new publishing techniques, and it's exciting to build something dozens, hundreds, and often thousands of people will talk about.
On the Web, your business is never closed. Consumers can visit your site 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. They don't have to worry about fighting traffic to get to the mall. They don't have to race to the store after work and hope that it's not closed. They don't have to talk to a sales representative who's having a bad day and doesn't want to answer their questions. They can get information about your products and services at their own pace and when it's most convenient for them, even if it's 3:00 a.m. on Christmas morning.
Businesses are striving to establish a presence on the Web for many different reasons. Some are experimenting and trying to discover the benefits of Web publishing, so they are promoting their company's product and service online. Often, they try to gauge consumer interest areas and figure out the directions the Web site should grow in to best serve customers.
Other businesses focus strictly on profits from Web publishing. They expect to make direct sales to customers and are interested in little else. These businesses are often disappointed when their Web publishing operation doesn't generate thousands of new sales. What these businesses fail to realize is that the benefits of Web publishing aren't always tangible.
Although advertising agencies would undoubtedly argue to the contrary, you can't precisely gauge the sales generated from a $100,000 television commercial. You can estimate the potential sales based on the estimated size of the viewing audience, but you can't directly relate sales to a particular 30-second television commercial. The same is true in Web publishing. If your consumers aren't purchasing your product at your online order center, that doesn't mean they aren't reading about the product online and purchasing the product locally.
Increasing the bottom line because of Web publishing can be a goal, but it shouldn't be the only goal. Internet-savvy businesses have many goals for their Web publishing operations and know the Web is best used for the following:
What do you do when the customer has questions and wants answers at 3:00 a.m.? Most customer service departments aren't open 24 hours a day, primarily because of the expense of providing around-the-clock service. The best time to reach customers is at their leisure, and when they have questions about your products or services.
One of the biggest customer complaints is the wait to get service. Nothing frustrates customers more than waiting on the phone or in a line to get service. Some companies solve this problem by hiring additional customer service representatives during peak periods. Other companies simply can't afford the extra expense of hiring more personnel, so the result is long waits for service.
On the Web, there's no wait to get customer support. Customers reach the Web site, follow the links to your customer support area, and find the information they need. Ideally, the customer service area would have search facilities so customers could look for specific information quickly.
The customer support area for Strategic Simulations Incorporated (SSI, www.ssionline.com) is shown in Figure 2.6. In this area, SSI customers can download updates and patches for the latest games. Being able to instantly get and download a patch for a game means customers don't have to wait two to four weeks for an update to be sent through the mail.
Figure 2.6 : Customer service plays a central role at the SSI Web site.
The Web dramatically reduces the cost of publishing product information. Not only can you give customers product information, but you can do so on a scale that would be prohibitively expensive through traditional media. You can turn your one-page ad in a leading magazine into a 20-page exposé on your product for a fraction of the cost of publishing in the magazine. In fact, for the same cost as a one-page ad in a leading magazine, you can probably publish detailed information on your entire product line.
Quick access to information is often critical to the success of your products and services. The Web also reduces the lag time for getting new product information. Instead of having to wait days for product information to arrive in the mail, customers can find new product information at your Web site within seconds after you publish it.
Customers focus on documentation for products, and the manuals delivered with products aren't always detailed enough for them. Poorly written manuals are sometimes the result of a rush to get the product to market or publishing constraints that limit the size of the manual to reduce costs. Many manuals also have typos and inconsistencies, but correcting them is costly and impractical when products have already been shipped to wholesalers, retailers, and customers. You can correct your manual's deficiencies by offering a deluxe version online.
The Web also significantly reduces the costs of distributing upgrades to customers. Not only can you provide information on patches for software products, but you can also make the patches available for downloading online. Giving customers free upgrades to your products is good business, especially since most minor upgrades fix bugs in the original product. The company saves money because disks and documentation don't have to be published and shipped to the customer.
To offer quality customer service and make sure you're meeting the needs of customers, you need feedback from them. Your Web pages can have forms that customers fill out and submit online by e-mail. In this way, you can keep in touch with your customers' needs. Fill-out forms can also be used to get customer opinions on your latest products and services. You can compile these opinion surveys and use the statistics to pinpoint areas for improvement in future product releases.
Building your business's image is important, and one of the best ways to do this is through press coverage. Savvy businesses with Web sites have the online equivalent of neon signs leading the press to special areas set up for their use. For example, the Internet Explorer home page (www.microsoft.com/ie) shown in Figure 2.7, has a link to a page specifically directed at the press.
Often these press areas list contacts for key personnel in the company, such as the marketing director, the public relations manager for hardware issues, or the public relations manager for new product releases. On the Web, you can do much more than simply list names; you can include color photos of the company representatives and executive officers. You can also list their phone numbers, fax numbers, and e-mail addresses and even include online forms to submit public relations questions.
Along with contact information, these areas often contain press releases. Press releases on your business's products and services are free advertising. Many Web sites publish current and past press releases as well as information to be freely distributed by the press. Coverage in the press shows interested parties what your company has done in the past and what it's doing now. Press releases aren't just for the press, however. You should also supply press releases in areas frequented by your customers. In this way, customers, too, can see what the company has done in the past and is doing now.
You can also offer demos and screenshots of your products for downloading so that people who are interested in your products can see them firsthand. If they're interested, they can test the demo; if they need screenshots to publish in a book, magazine, or newspaper, they can download and use the material you supply.
Selling your products and services to consumers is done through marketing. The interactive and dynamic nature of the Web makes it a powerful tool for marketing. If you don't market your products, they won't sell. If you don't tell people about your services, no one is going to hire you. Large corporations spend millions of dollars on marketing every year. Traditional direct advertising media include television and radio commercials, display advertising in magazines and newspapers, and mass marketing campaigns done by direct mail.
The problem with direct marketing is that there's no guarantee your product will sell based on the advertisement or that you will actually make sales to the consumers you reach. For example, the typical response rate for direct mailings is 3-4 percent, so if you distribute 10,000 flyers to a targeted mailing list, you generally make 300 to 400 sales.
In recent years, many companies have been turning to marketing media that are more interactive than direct advertising and less expensive than personal sales visits. Companies are using telemarketing to reach potential customers by phone or long, documentary-style commercials called "infomercials" to give customers information about products in a setting that seems interactive.
Although telemarketing and infomercials are more interactive than traditional forms of marketing, they also have drawbacks. Telemarketing is often seen as an invasion of privacy, and even when telemarketers get a person willing to listen, they have only a few minutes to make a sale. Infomercials, like personal sales visits, aren't always practical because they cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce and televise. To produce a successful infomercial, you need the right type of product.
The wonderful thing about Web marketing is that it's right for all types of products and offers a level of interaction with customers on a par with personal sales visits. You don't have to spend $100,000 or even $10,000 to reach a global audience. You can publish on the Web for $100 a month or less.
Your Web pages can help you establish connections with new customers and build relationships with your current customers. Web users reach businesses in the world market at the click of a button. One click can take them to a business in London; another click can take them to one in Albuquerque. The image you present through your Web site is often all the potential customer will know about your business, so you can gain a substantial competitive advantage in a global market simply by projecting a strong image.
Web marketing is not a replacement for traditional marketing; it is best used when combined with other types of marketing. However, Web marketing can certainly help companies of any size meet their marketing needs. Consider the comparisons in the following sidebar.
| Traditional Advertising Compared to a Commercial Web Site |
Option A: Television commercial
Audience: 1,000,000 television viewers Option B: Web site with hundreds of megabytes of data available Audience: 10,000 hits per day for 365 days (3.65 million hits) Option A: One-page magazine advertisement Audience: 100,000 readers Option B: Web site on ISP's Web server with 10-20 M of available data Audience: 2,500 hits per day for 365 days (912,500 hits) Option A: Mass marketing campaign through direct mailings Audience: 10,000 consumers Option B: Web publication with 23M of data Audience: 500 hits per day for 365 days (182,500 hits) |
Making direct sales on the Web is not only a possibility-it's a reality, and the Web's interactive nature is largely responsible for making these sales. Businesses all over the world have online order centers; their customers use fill-out forms to directly submit orders for processing.
Figure 2.8 shows the form used to apply for an account at the Internet Shopping Network (www.isn.com). Once you fill out and submit the form, you get an account number you can use when you place orders.
Figure 2.8 : Applying for an account at the Internet Shopping Network.
| Caution |
Online ordering has tremendous potential. Dozens of Internet-savvy businesses have increased revenues by 200 to 300 percent through online ordering. However, for every success story, there are several companies who fail miserably. The primary reason companies don't generate sales online is that they don't take the time to learn about the market. Traditional advertising and marketing schemes simply don't work on the Web. The company I founded, The Virtual Press Inc., offers many services to businesses wanting to establish a presence on the Web. When I wear my Internet consulting hat, the advice I often offer new businesses is this: Don't measure the success of your Web site by the revenues generated from online orders. The Web is best viewed as an extremely powerful advertising medium and marketing tool. Television commercials don't generate sales that can be specifically correlated to a single commercial, either. You wouldn't pull the plug on your television commercials when 10,000 viewers fail to run out and buy your latest gizmo immediately after the commercial, so why would you pull the plug on your Web site? |
Because electronic commerce is in its infancy on the Internet, the mechanism behind direct ordering differs greatly from site to site. A growing number of businesses have set up ways for customers to make secure transfers. In this way, sensitive information, like credit card numbers, is protected by encryption. More businesses will adopt secure transfer methods when true security standards are implemented.
Currently, businesses with online order centers use a variety of methods to secure transfers. Many of them have customers set up an account before ordering online. Customers are assigned an account number that can be used for online ordering at the customer's convenience. Normally, any orders placed with the account number can be shipped only to the address the customer specified when the account was set up.
Some businesses allow customers to place orders online and then ask them to confirm the order by phone or fax. Customers typically get an order reference number they could give to a sales representative or automated voice mail system, along with their credit card number. Because the customer has already provided all the essential information online, the whole confirmation process by phone or fax usually takes less than a minute.
Often the focus of Web publishing is on the business benefits, yet the Web is much more than a place to conduct marketing and advertising. You don't have to publish on the Web for profit. For every business publishing on the Web to increase the bottom line, someone somewhere is publishing on the Web simply to spread the word about his or her ideas.
The Web is an open repository for information. Research institutes, universities, colleges, nonprofit organizations, and individuals freely publish information. One of the primary reasons to publish on the Web is to gain recognition for your ideas, research findings, and projects, but you can also do so simply because you want to share information and ideas with others.
Spreading the word about ideas you've published on the Web is easy, and, more important, free. Dozens of Web sites index and catalog information available on the Web. Some of these sites maintain specialized lists of popular, new, and cool documents; others maintain comprehensive lists.
One of the most comprehensive guides to Web resources is found at Lycos (www.lycos.com), shown in Figure 2.9. Web users rely on databases like Lycos to find resources on the Web. To add your documents to a list, all you have to do is register them. This generally means filling out a form and submitting it online, which takes only a few minutes. The key information you enter in a fill-out form includes your name, business address, e-mail address, uniform resource locator (URL), and a brief description of your document. You can find a comprehensive list of catalog sites in Chapter 49, "Designing and Publishing a Killer Web Site."
Figure 2.9 : Lycos is one of many Web databases.
The Web is the most dynamic medium you will ever publish in. Using its rich features, you have almost limitless possibilities for publishing your ideas.
Much has changed since the Web's early days. The first Web publications were mostly textual and limited in multimedia features, but today's Web publications are highly graphical and rich in multimedia features. Using the Web's facilities, you can easily incorporate images into your publication.
Interactivity is a key ingredient for making connections with readers. Highly interactive documents invite readers to become participants. When your readers are actively involved, they're no longer simply watching as you unfold ideas in page after page. They are deciding how they want to unfold the story and are choosing their own path through it. The Web isn't the only medium you can use to create interactive publications, but it's the most versatile and least expensive one available.
Creating multimedia documents for use on the Web is easier than you might think. In fact, the Web is the easiest publishing medium for creating multimedia documents. At the Web publisher's fingertips is the world's greatest multimedia library-the Internet and all its archives. Not only does this library have thousands of multimedia clips you can get for free or for a small fee, it's complete with a multimedia developer's toolkit you can also get for free or a small fee. You will explore the possibilities of multimedia in Part V, "Extending Your Site with Multimedia."
If free clips and tools aren't enough to persuade you that Web publishing is your best choice for creating multimedia publications, the wonderful thing about Web technology is that it's advancing at an explosive pace. Even now, you can create publications with animation, soundtracks, and video without needing any special tools at all.
Before you start publishing on the Web, you must evaluate your access needs so you can determine what type of account will meet your needs as a Web publisher and can get the level of access to the Web that's right for you. If you plan to provide Internet-related services or products specifically for Internet-smart consumers, you should have your own domain. A domain address is a unique address only you will have. Web users can use programs, such as Whois, to get information about your domain.
| Note |
Whois is a basic protocol to find information on Internet users and domains. If you have an account with an Internet Service Provider (ISP) with access to a UNIX shell, you can type whois at the shell prompt. For example, to find more information on my domain, tvp.com, you would type the following at the shell prompt: |
Having your own domain is vital to establishing a presence on the Web. Many users make specific judgments about you based on the address URL to your Web pages. Most people believe you must set up a Web server to get your own domain, but this isn't true. Web publishers who want their own domain have several options.
Most people don't need to set up their own Web server. If you plan to go through an ISP to get an account with Web publishing privileges, you don't need to set up your own Web server. You will use your ISP's Web server to publish your Web documents. If you already have an account with an ISP, you may already have all you need to publish on the Web.
Your access options are the following:
Installing your own Web server is the most expensive option for Web publishing, but it offers significant advantages. With a dedicated connection, you can provide 24-hour Web services to users worldwide. You will have complete control over your Web server and can publish whatever you wish. You can configure the server to handle other services as well, such as FTP, Gopher, telnet, and CGI scripts. You will also have your own domain, which will establish a clear presence on the Web for you or your company. Your URL will look something like the following:
http://www.your_company.com/
Web server software is available for almost every platform, including Amiga, Macintosh, Windows, and UNIX systems. A few commercial options, such as the Netscape Commerce Server, are very expensive, but most server software is available free or for a nominal fee. Server software is widely available for downloading from the Internet. You can even get evaluation versions of commercial software that will allow you to try the server software free. Typically, these trial periods are for 90 days; afterward, if you want to continue using the commercial server software, you must pay a fee.
| Note |
Many chapters in this book cover server setup and administration. Installing and managing Web servers is covered in depth in Chapter 45, "Setting Up and Administering a Web Server." Customizing your Web site for speed and performance is covered in Chapter 46, "Optimizing Your Web Site or Intranet." Server security is examined in Chapter 47, "Managing Server Security." |
For an individual or small company wanting to set up a Web server, the best server software to use is most likely the software that will run on the computer system you're most familiar with. For a company with an installed computer network, you might want to use one of the computers already available as your Web server. Before you install the Web server, you should carefully consider security options, such as a firewall, to shield your internal network from illegal activities.
If you don't have a computer capable of providing Web services, you will need to buy one at a cost of $3,000 to $25,000 or lease one at a cost of $75 to $500 per month. Before buying or leasing a computer, you must determine what platform the Web server runs on. Again, the best server software for you is usually the software that runs on a platform familiar to you or your support staff. However, before you make any decision, examine carefully how and for what purpose the company plans to use the Web server.
Commercial options are usually the easiest to install, support, and maintain; however, the primary reason for using commercial Web server software is support. If you believe you will need outside software support to keep the server alive, commercial software is the best choice.
Most shareware servers run on UNIX systems. UNIX servers are typically the best maintained and supported, so they're some of the most reliable and secure servers available. If you have a strong need for reliability and security, you should look at UNIX Web server software. However, you might need an experienced team to compile the source code and configure the server parameters.
You will also need to get an Internet connection. Generally, you can do this for a fee from an Internet Service Provider or a commercial online service. The speed of the connection drives the monthly fees. To determine the best connection speed for you, you will need to estimate the volume of traffic for the site. A good way to estimate traffic is to visit a site similar in content and structure to your intended site. Because most popular sites offer some historical information on the site's use, you can use the data to make a better estimate of traffic for your site.
Although the Internet is a global structure, use of your site probably won't be at a steady constant pace throughout the day. For example, a site with 25,000 hits a day may experience peak usage periods within fluctuating time-windows. These peak periods present a problem when assessing your Internet connection needs. For this reason, for a Web site with an anticipated high volume of traffic, such as daily network traffic of more than 25,000 hits per day, you might want to consider using a high-speed T1 connection to the Internet. Leasing a T1 line will cost you $2,500 to $5,000 per month, plus an installation fee of $2,500 to $5,000.
Most Web sites don't need a T1 connection to the Internet. In fact, the average site needs only a 56 Kbps line. A 56 Kbps connection can adequately handle daily network traffic of 2,000 hits per day, and the really good news is that the cost of a 56 Kbps connection to the Internet is only $300 to $500 per month, plus a startup fee of up to $500.
Getting an Internet account with Web publishing privileges is an inexpensive option. Typical costs for such an account are $20 to $50 per month, plus a startup fee of up to $50. The account should include at least 2-3 M of storage space on the service provider's computer. Most ISPs offer unlimited access time to the Internet, meaning whether you log on for 40 or 400 hours a month, you usually pay the same monthly fee. Although your e-mail, standard files, and Web-published files will use this space, 2-3 M is usually enough to maintain a modest-sized site. If you currently have an account with an ISP that allows Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) or Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) access to the Web, you may already have Web publishing privileges!
Your account with an ISP is available on a dial-up basis. A dial-up connection requires a computer, which might be dedicated to networking, with communications software and a modem. The good news about a dial-up connection is that it uses a regular phone line with speeds ranging from 9.6 Kbps to 28.8 Kbps. Your computer is used to establish a connection over the modem and phone line for a temporary period; at the end of use, the Internet connection is broken. You will use the connection to browse the Web, navigate around the Internet, or check on your site published on the ISP's Web server.
Before you set up an account, check with your ISP for specifics on storage space, additional fees for storage space that shouldn't be more than $2 per megabyte, and possible additional fees if you have a popular site. You should also check on the availability of more services, such as FTP, Gopher, telnet, and CGI scripts, which should be available for use free, if they're available at all.
An account with an ISP is an inexpensive option, but it's also a very basic one. You don't have control over the Web server, so you'll be at the mercy of the ISP for additional services, including CGI scripts. You won't have your own domain, and people will know this immediately because your URL will look something like this:
http://www.your_service_provider.com/~you
America Online, CompuServe, Genie, and Prodigy all offer or plan to offer Web publishing privileges to their customers. Publishing on the Web through a commercial online service is your least expensive alternative if you use your account wisely. Typical costs for such an account are $10 to $20 per month, plus a small additional fee for maintaining your Web pages on the online service's Web server. Most commercial online services offer only a few hours of connection time free each month. After you use your free connection time, you have to pay additional connection charges. If you currently have an account with a commercial online service, you might already be able to publish on the Web!
Your account with a commercial online service is available on a dial-up basis. You use the connection to browse the Web, navigate around the Internet, or to check on your site published on the online service's Web server. Before you set up an account, check with the commercial online service for specifics on storage space and possible extra fees if you have a popular site.
An account with a commercial online service is the least expensive option, but it's also the most basic option. Many online services are fairly new to Web publishing themselves and don't offer access to essential additional services. This, of course, will change-and probably quickly-but you should ask your online service about additional services, such as FTP, Gopher, and CGI, to find out when they'll be available. You won't have your own domain, which people will know because your URL will look something like this:
http://www.commercial_online_service.com/~you
| Tip |
If you're interested in Web publishing with a commercial online service, visit these Web sites to find current rates and publishing options: America Online http://www.aol.com/ |
Getting a phantom domain is often the best option available for anyone wanting to Web publish. With a phantom domain, you get most of the benefits of having your own Web server, and you get affordability. When you have your own domain, Web users can use programs, such as Whois, to get more information about you.
Typical costs for a phantom domain are only slightly more than a basic account with an ISP and range from $25 to $75. The primary advantage of a phantom domain is that you'll have your own domain, so your URL will look something like this:
http://www.your_company.com/This URL is easier to type and remember than a URL containing the tilde. Instead of telling people your URL is www.yourserviceprovider.com/~yourcompany, you can tell them your URL is www.yourcompany.com. You may be surprised to learn that many users try to find sites based on the company name. For example, when I look for a site associated with a major company, I usually type http://www.companyname.com in my browser's URL window. If the URL is valid, then I'm at the company's Web site without having to look up the URL in a Web database that might not have the site's URL.
Some ISPs call this service Web server hosting. This generally means that by hosting, the ISP is creating a phantom domain for you on its system. Maintaining a phantom domain is no more taxing on the ISP's server than your standard account and is, in fact, little more than clever linking to make the outside world think you have your own domain. With a phantom domain, you still have no control over the Web server or additional services. However, most ISPs that offer phantom domains include additional services as part of the deal, and these additional services are the only real justification for higher fees.
| Phantom Domains |
Phantom domains are the wave of the future in Web publishing. If you already have an account with an ISP, check to see whether they offer phantom domains. Many ISPs offer phantom domains to their users because it's an easy way to generate extra revenue. You can get a phantom domain from an ISP, a commercial service provider, or an Internet presence provider. Internet presence providers specialize in setting up Web sites. Most of the sites that presence providers set up are phantom domains. A typical presence provider services hundreds of phantom domains off one or more Web servers. Although this might sound like a lot, the power and capacity of the server and the speed of its connection to the Internet are more important than anything else. Because Internet presence providers specialize in servicing businesses instead of individual users, business-oriented sites may do better with these providers. Dozens of presence providers are available; for more information, visit this site: http://www.isoc.org/~bgreene/nsp1-5c.html To find a comprehensive list of Internet service providers, visit The List. This site maintains one of the best ISP listings: http://www.thelist.com/ Or try this site: http://www.cybertoday.com/ISPs/ISPinfo.html |
Navigating the Web is easy if you understand the principles of hypertext linking and URLs. Hypertext references can be text- or graphics-based, but they're all defined by URLs that specify a path to the resources.
The most exciting time to publish on the Web is right now. You have a chance to get in on the ground floor, and for once, it isn't going to cost you a bundle to join. People all around the world are publishing on the Web for fun, profit-and because they can.
The Web is the most versatile medium you will ever publish in. Web publishers have proved time and again that there are no real limits to what can be published on the Web. Not only are they publishing every imaginable type of document ever created, they are doing it successfully and helping to build the most powerful information system in the world: the World Wide Web. So what are you waiting for?
Before you start Web publishing, you should also evaluate your own access needs, even if you already have an Internet account. By doing this, you can determine what type of account will meet your needs as a Web publisher.
