Projects and Exercises
Project 1: Choosing a Web Host
Investigate web hosting services. What do these web-hosting services provide (e.g. how much storage space and how many e-mail accounts do they provide)? Go to Google and search for "web hosting services." Some sites to visit include Rackspace, Verio, and OVDCloud. Prepare a chart comparing the features offered by at least two services. Which would you choose, and why?
Project 2: Right-Sizing a Hardware Platform
You have been asked by the CIO of Liquidation.com to help right-size Liquidation.com's hardware platform. Visit the Liquidation.com website to see what you can learn, then create a table similar to Table 3.7 on page 201.
Project 3: Optimizing Your Website
Investigate site optimization functionality offered by analytics programs such as Webtrends Optimize, Google Analytics, and Optimizely. What are the costs for such programs? What are their capabilities? How are they useful? Which would you choose, and why? Prepare a short report or presentation on your findings.
Project 4: Investigating Widgets and Gadgets
Visit either Apple-Downloads-Dashboard or Wordpress Widgets, and investigate the widgets available. Choose one that would be useful for an e-commerce website and prepare a short report or presentation on the functionality it provides.
Project 5: Mobile Websites
Amazon is an acknowledged leader in m-commerce. If you have access to a tablet computer or smartphone, visit Amazon's mobile app or mobile website or that of another online retailer of your own choice, and, using Table 3.12 on page 215 and Table 3.13 on page216 as a guide, prepare a short report comparing it to the version of the site that you access on a regular desktop or laptop computer.
Copyright © 2020 Kenneth C. Laudon and Carol G. Traver