Blog Question for Week 9

"How could you advise a visually disabled friend to complain about a website they couldn't access?"

A visually Disabled person can complain about a website they couldn't access in several ways as the Disability Discrimination Act known as DDA make sures that websites are accessible to users that are visually impaird or disabled. So therefore if i had a visually disabled friend i would advise them to take strong legal action against the company by taking them to court for discriminating certain individuals from accessing certain websites to teach them a lesson and give my friend who is visually disabled a voice so that he/she can be recognised. Also to sue the company for going againt the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).

Quote from the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995

"2.2 (p7): “The Disability Discrimination Act makes it unlawful for a service provider to discriminate against a disabled person by refusing to provide any service which it provides to members of the public.”

Three Solutions:

The 3 solutions that can improve website accessibitly for a visually disabled friend are:

1. Increase in font Size as this can help users with visually impaird vision to read text from websites much clearly and comfortably. The procedure that can be carried out for this is:

• Firstky click 'View' which is on top of the browser
• 
  Secondly choose 'Font size' from the drop down menu.
• 
  Thirdly choose the font size that suits you and you know you are comfortable with.
  Finally continue with the reading.

2. Screen Reader as the CPU can read out text and images for the users that have visually impaired vision.

3. Special Keybord such as brail for blind users as these keybords are specially ergonomically designed for these type of users so that they can easily navigate through webpages.

Legal Case which has made precedence in law:

Olympic Web Case: Maguire V SOCOG

Location: Sydney

On the 7 of June 1999 a blind person made a complaint to HREOCthat he was unlawfully discriminated against by SOCOG in three respects which where:

1. The failure to offer braille copies of the information needed to place orders for Olympic Games tickets.
2. 
   The failure to offer braille copies of the Olympic Games souvenir programme.
   
3. The failure to offer a web site which was accessible to the complainant.

The Ticket Book component of the complaint was dealt with on the 30 September 1999 and Souvenir programme on the 27 March 2000.

A decision on the web accessibility was carried out on 24 August 2000, with SOCOG found to have occupied in unlawful conduct by offering a web site which was to a significant extent inaccessible to the blind. The web site was ordered to be made accessible by the start of the Sydney Olympics.

On 6 November 2000 (after the Sydney Olympics) the web site was found to only be partly compliant and $20,000 damages were awarded.

References:

Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) & Web Accessibility

http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/web-accessibility/uk-website-legal-requirements.shtml [Viewed: 29/11/08]

Direct Government for Disabled people Rights and Obligations

http://www.direct.gov.uk/DisabledPeople/RightsAndObligations/GoingToCourt [Viewed: 29/11/08]

Olympic Faliure: A Case for making the Web Accessible

http://www.tomw.net.au/2001/bat2001f.html [Viewed: 29/11/08]

Blog Question for Week 8

'In your own words explain what are the advantages and disadvantages of 3-Tier Architecture in Web development?'


The 3-Tier Architecture application creates a logical division between the Presentation Layer, Business Logic Layer and the Database Layer.

The advantages of 3-Tier Architecture in Web development are:

1. Improved scalability- The application servers can be installed on several machines.
2. Better Re-use- The same logic can be started from several clients or applications.
3. Improved Data Integrity- As all the updates go through the middle tier, the middle tier can make sure that only data that is valid is allowed to be updated in the database and the threat of a rogue client application corrupting data is taken away.
4. Improved Security- As the security can be applied at multiple levels not just the database.
5. Reduced Distribution- As changes to business logic only require to be updated on the application servers and do not require to be spread to all clients.
6. Improved Availability.
7. Hidden Database structure.

The disadvantages of 3-Tier Architecture in web development are:

1. Increased Complexity/Effort- The 3-Tier Architecture application is more difficult to build and maintain compare to a 2-Tier application.
2. Further processing on the web server.
3. Interaction with the WMS is not direct.

References:

Prons and Cons of 3-Tier Architecture

http://www.dotnetfunda.com/articles/article71.aspx [Viewed: 23/11/08]

http://moodle.bcu.ac.uk/tid/file.php/340/Karims_Seminar/Three_Tier_Architecture_Model_answer_.doc [Viewed: 23/11/08]

Advantages and Disadvantages of of 3-Tier Architecture

http://www.dotnetspider.com/forum/ViewForum.aspx?ForumId=32149 [Viewed: 23/11/08]

Blog Question for Week 7

'With hindsight, what advice would you give to next year's students about preparing for the A1W group presentation?'

The advice i would give to next year's students preparing for their A1W group presenation is that to first of all to get together in a group with the people that you know you will be able to manage and get along as a team with. This should be done as soon as possible as this would give you more time to prepare for the actual presentation.

Once your group is sorted out, you will then need to make sure that you plan out regular group meetings so that you can keep track of what each group member is doing, what they are suppose to do and what together as a team the improvements you can make if something is wrong or missing and you can also keep a record of who did or did not attend the meetings, as this will help you identify who is actually participating within the group. As you plan your group meetings you need to make sure that you inform all your group members the day, time and the place well before advance as this will help them know when and where the meeting is held so they can participate and prepare for the presentation as you do not want any members to be absent on the actual day of the group meeting as this would just set you and the entire team back leading to less time for preparation. Also make sure that you have at least 2 group meetings per week as this will give you enough preparation time for the presentation.

The final advice i would give to next year's student preparing for A1W group presenation is to make sure that you keep a reference of all the websites that you visted inorder to help you look for information regarding your presentation subject and also to make sure you have enough time to rehearse your part of the presentation as this will enable you to conquer your presentation which will lead you to produce a well developed presentation when it comes down to the actual day of presenting as you will have no notes with you and you will not need to be keep looking back at the presentation slides to see what you have to say next as you would have already conquered it. Like this others will have a good impression of you and will not say that you just read straight from the slides.

Blog Question for Week 6

(i) Describe THREE typical functions performed by the Apache HTTP Web Server?

Apache is a poweful and a widely used World Wide Web server. The three typical functions that are performed by the Apache Web Server are:

1. The sharing of files from personal computer over the internet. Basically if the user has Apache installed on thier desktop it allows them to put arbitrary files into the Apache's document root which enables them to be shared.
   
2. The Preview and test code of the web application that is being developed by a programmer. When developing a web application the programmer uses a version of Apache which is locally stored to be able to preview and test code the application when it is being developed.


3. The Organization of error messages. Basically the Apache Web server sorts out the arrangement of error messages.
   

(ii) Compare the Similarities and differences between the terms 'Static' and Dynamic' Web Sites

The term 'Static' means that the information or code which produces the website does not change. it has been skilled to function as a printed document and to be transferred onto the web.

The term 'Dynamic' means that the data or content can change 'dynamically'. the content is provided from either a database management or a CMS which is knwn as Content Management System, so when the data is updated, the text and images which are on the page can also be updated.

Without 'Static' and 'Dynamic' Websites there would be no such thing as the 'World Wide Web'.

SIMILARITIES

The similarities between the terms 'Static' and 'Dynamic web sites are:

1. Static and Dynamic web sites both control and store website information from around the world.
2. Both websites control the amount of clients.
3. Both translate URL into file names and program names and keep a running log file.

DIFFERENCES

The differences between both 'Static' and 'Dynamic' Websites are:

1. 'Static' pages end with either [.html or .htm] whereas 'Dynamic' webpages end with either [.stm or .asp or .php].
2. Static pages send the same response to every request 'Dynamic' pages however modify the response on the server to recommend personlization based on the foundation of cookies and information that it can get from the visitor.
3. 'Dynamic' pages are more complex compared to 'Static' pages as 'Static' pages have non complex web addresses.
4. 'Dynamic' pages tend to store the user's personal data, whereas 'Static' pages do not. With dynamic pages the user will be able to notice that their data is stored as when they visit the previous website thier name will show up.

References:

Functions of Apache HTTP Webserver

http://httpd.apache.org/ [Viewed: 15/11/08]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_HTTP_Server [Viewed: 15/11/08]

Similiraties and differences between 'Static' and 'Dynamic' pages

http://websiteowner.info/articles/pages/pagetypes.asp [Viewed: 17/11/08]

http://www.infinitimixedmedia.com/content/view/127/44/ [Viewed: 17/11/08]

Blog Question for Week 5

Point Chosen:
You must hold regular meetings and post the minutes on your section of moodle in the groupwork forum. Your group and tutors can see this, but other students can’t.

I have chosen this point because I truly believe that this point is important because by holding regular meetings you can be able to see who is actually taking part and contributing within the group and how the group members are getting along with their part of the presentation which will lead to a successful presentation at the end.

Also by working as a group you are working as a team which bonds you all together as you are working together and not individually or independently. Holding regular meetings is also important as the questions or queries can be answered by all the group members if one of the group member is stuck and needs help with their part of the presentation. This can lead to a good presentation output at the end.

It is important to post the meetings on moodle this is because the tutors can actually see how often you have held regular meetings and how much effort the group as whole and individual members of the group have put in to produce the presentation.