CHAPTER 1: Introduction
A Web application is any application
that uses a Web browser as a client. The application can be as simple as
a message board or a guest sign-in book on a website or as complex as a
word processor or a spreadsheet. A Web application relieves the
developer of the responsibility of building a client for a specific type
of computer or a specific operating system. Since the client runs in a
Web browser, the user could be using an IBM-compatible or a Mac. They
can be running Windows XP or Windows Vista. They can even be using
Internet Explorer or Firefox, though some applications require a
specific browser. Web applications commonly use a combination of
server-side script (ASP, PHP, etc) and client-side script (HTML,
JavaScript, etc.) to develop the application. The client-side script
deals with the presentation of the information while the server-side
script deals with all the hard stuff like storing and retrieving the
information.
1.1 Background of the Study
Most Web applications are based on the
client-server architecture where the client enters information while the
server stores and retrieves information. Internet mail is an example of
this, with companies like Yahoo and MSN offering Web-based email
clients. The new push for Web applications is crossing the line into
those applications that do not normally need a server to store the
information. Your word processor, for example, stores documents on your computer, and doesn't need a server.
Web applications can provide the same
functionality and gain the benefit of working across multiple platforms.
For example, a Web application can act as a word processor, storing
information and allowing you to 'download' the document onto your
personal hard drive. If you have seen the new Gmail or Yahoo mail
clients, you have seen how sophisticated Web applications have become in
the past few years. Much of that sophistication is because of AJAX,
which is a programming model for creating more responsive Web
applications.
Google Apps,
Microsoft Office Live and WebEx Web Office are examples of the newest
generation of Web applications. Daniel Nations (2016). The research
seeks to investigate Web Based Client application for lecturers in IBBU.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The World Wide Web has become one of our
primary means of information and communication, a space for expressing
both private and professional interests, and at the same time a huge
marketplace and economic factor. Today, it is a key platform for news
and entertainment, e-commerce, research, communication and collaboration
(USC 2007). The importance of the usability of the related user
interfaces can hardly be overestimated. And yet, an important factor is
omitted when content, structure and experience are designed and
evaluated on the Web: we know surprisingly little about the way people
interact with their browsers during their daily use of the Web, or about
ways in which they revisit pages after a longer period. While user
navigation on single Web sites is commonly logged and used for
subsequent analysis of user behavior, the exact nature of the users’
interaction with the browser and cross-site browsing patterns remain
inaccessible, as they can only be observed on client side. Studies
analyzing personal use of the Web over a long term are surprisingly
scarce: newer studies focus on specific tasks, were performed under
laboratory conditions, or dealt with search rather than Web navigation
in general—and consequently can only give a limited insight into
everyday Web use (see Section 2).
The most recently reported client-side long-term studies are more than
7 years old—and thus represent the
1990s, a time in which the World Wide Web was still in its incipiency:
the user population was dominated by researchers, most documents had
static content and the focus lay on information delivery. With the
increasing commercialization and the growing number of people accessing
the Web using home connections, its user population became more and more
diverse and new requirements emerged. Great efforts have been made to
standardize technological infrastructure, and the inventiveness of those
designing interactive experiences on the Web—within and beyond
technological limitations—is astounding. Since the end of the nineties,
new Web applications have gained popularity providing functionality
which used to reside on desktops, covering a wide range of tasks from
email, chat and bulletin boards to complex services such as travel
agencies, libraries, and shops. This development was hardly predictable
when the first Web browsers were developed. Yet, current browser
interfaces and their navigation tools still closely resemble those of
the browsers from the early Web days, mainly focusing on information
retrieval and hypertext navigation. This mismatch illustrates the need
for updating and extending findings on how users interact with the Web
and what problems they encounter today. The problem confronting this
research therefore is to investigate Web Based Client application for
lecturers in IBBU
1.3 Objective of the Study
To determine the Web Based Client Application for Lecturers in IBBU
1.4 Research Questions
1 What is the nature of Web Based Client Application?
2 What is the nature of Web Based Client Application for Lecturer in IBBU?
1.5 Significance of the Study
The study proffers a structural appraisal of the nature of Web Based Client Application for lecturers in IBBU.
1.6 Statement of Hypothesis
Ho Web Based Client Application for lecturers in IBBU is not effective
Hi Web Based Client Application for Lecturers in IBBU is effective
1.7 Scope of the Study
The study focuses on the appraisal of Web Based Client Application for lecturers in IBBU
1.8 Definition of Terms
WEB APPLICATION DEFINED
A Web application is any application
that uses a Web browser as a client. The application can be as simple as
a message board or a guest sign-in book on a website or as complex as a
word processor or a spreadsheet.
CLIENT DEFINED
The 'client' is used in client-server
environment to refer to the program the person uses to run the
application. A client-server environment is one in which multiple
computers share information such as entering information into a
database.
The 'client' is the application used to enter the information.
SERVER
Server' is the application used to store the information.