proposal
In this concluding section of my e-portfolio I will be putting forward, to the partners, detailed proposals that should take the PSD web site beyond its present level of functionality. I will also consider with them how it could be developed further to enable PSD to trade online.
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Turn it into a database-driven web site...
Any site that successfully attracts repeat visitors has to have fresh and constantly updated content. In the world of traditional site building, that means HTML files—and lots of them.
The problem is that, more often than not, the people who provide the content for a site are not the same people who handle its design. Frequently, the content provider doesn’t even know HTML. This is the case with your company—out of all of you only Ryan Townsend knows basic HTML. How, then, is the content going to get from yourselves (the providers) onto the web site? Not every company can afford to staff a full-time Webmaster, and most Webmasters have better things to do than copying Word files into HTML templates, anyway.
Maintenance of a content-driven site can be a real pain, too. In a few months time the PSD web site could be locked into a dry, outdated design because the rewriting all of the HTML files to reflect a new look would take forever. Server-side includes (SSIs) can help alleviate the burden a little, but you still end up with lots of files that need to be maintained should you wish to make any fundamental changes to the site.
The solution to these headaches is database-driven site design. By achieving complete separation between the site’s design and the content you want to present, you can work with each without disturbing the other. Instead of writing an HTML file for every page of the site, you need only to write a page for each kind of information you want to be able to present. Instead of endlessly pasting new content into your tired page layouts, it would be beneficial for you to get someone to create a simple content management system that allows you to post new content yourselves without seeing even a hint of HTML!
How?
The two main tools that I would recommend to be used to upgrade PSD’s site to a database-driven site are: the PHP scripting language and the MySQL relational database management system.
PHP is a server-side scripting language. Think of it as a “plug-in” for PSD’s web server that will allow it to do more than just send plain web pages when browsers request them. With PHP installed, your web server will be able to read a new kind of file (called a PHP script) that can do things like retrieve up-to-the-minute information from a database and insert it into a web page before sending it to the browser that requested it. PHP is completely free to download and use.
To retrieve information from a database, PSD first needs to have a database. That’s where MySQL comes in. MySQL is a relational database management system, or RDBMS. It’s a software package that is very good at the organisation and management of large amounts of information. MySQL also makes that information really easy to access with server-side scripting languages like PHP. MySQL is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL), and is thus free for most uses on all of the platforms it supports. This includes most Unix-based platforms, like Linux and even Mac OS X, as well as Windows.
The implementation of these two software packages and the incorporation of them into PSD’s site design would make updating both the content and presentation a breeze, thus enhancing your site’s overall functionality.
Developing it further to accommodate e-commerce…
In the future, you might like a selection of PSD’s products to be sold online. The same two technologies (PHP & MySQL) can be used in providing online ordering and payment facilities (such as, customer sessions and shopping baskets) saving a lot of extra development cost. However, there are some financial steps you must take before you can build and achieve this functionality.
To buy a product online, your web site visitor has to have some method of payment which you can accept. Most purchases on web sites involve credit cards; this is because most of them are accepted universally. Basically, there are only two ways your company can conduct credit card transactions online. The most common method that well-established companies use is: a “Card not present” merchant account.
A merchant account is simply a relationship between a company and a merchant bank that enables the company to accept web-based credit card payments from their customers. This is the account into which a merchant account provider deposits payments from the transactions made online. Alternatively, PSD could subscribe to an organisation such as ‘PayPal’ which allows payments through all the major credit cards. Usually, the merchant bank or payment organisation will have built in security checks to prevent fraud.
What ever option you choose, your customers will be sending valuable information to your company. The transferring of this information must be secure. It is recommended that you outsource all your security to a specialised company. For example, Thawte (http://www.thawte.com) has been providing secure communications to organisations and companies for over 10 years. They are a very experienced and trustworthy company.
Thawte use secure socket layer (SSL) protocol to provide all their customers with a safe connection for all business including transactions. This technology makes sure that all the information that is sent between the customer and company is encrypted, ensuring that data cannot be intercepted or stolen while in transit. This protection technique would solve the problem of data interception and would also give your customers some assurance that the transactional process is safe and sound.
Issues discussed in proposal:
- Database-driven web site
- Content management system
- E-commerce
- Security
I trust that the contents of the proposal are clear and present a realistic representation of what the implementation of the discussed updates would involve.
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