Is your web site ready for Web2.0?

Over the past few years business web sites have been gradually moving from ‘designer’ web pages towards content-managed sites. Although most new web sites today are content-managed, this typically provides little more than a simple means of editing the web page content via a WYSIWYG interface on the site itself. 

Whilst companies have been concentrating on improved graphic design and better textual content, the web has been undergoing a technological revolution. This revolution, which has been called Web 2.0, is changing the way that users are expecting to be able to use the Internet. 

This document looks at some of the guiding principles of Web2.0, and how they are implemented in JK Internet’s software solutions, and how you could apply them to your business today.

Web2.0 is a term coined to describe a new way of thinking, a new level of Internet solution. It is certainly being driven forward by organisations such as Google whose applications are as much a part of the new wave as Netscape was in what we could now call Web1.

Architecture of Participation

Architecture of Participation is a key part of Web 2.0, and describes the changing Internet user. The internet community is growing at an amazing rate. Web sites that don’t allow their users to contribute are not only missing out on an opportunity, but actually putting users off visiting. One of the guiding principles of Web2.0 is the move from mere publishing to participation.  

When users find they can use a web site to contribute to or interact with a business, they will actively and regularly use the web site. JK Internet’s software is about integrating the user experience directly with the people and processes that form a company. When this is achieved, the web site becomes both an essential tool and a significant contributor to the operation of a business. It provides an interface that actually does business, rather than just talk about it.

Rich User Experience

User experience doesn’t come from how flashy an interface is, but from how quickly users can get to the point where they are contributing information. AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, a technique used in interactive web application development) is a useful example of this concept.  

One of the ongoing problems with web-based forms is that the form has to be submitted back to the web server, refreshing the whole page, in order for data to be updated. Using AJAX, sites are not bound by this restriction, as a web page can communicate with the server behind the scenes, maintaining an interface with the user throughout.  

AJAX is supported by JK Internet’s software – examples of its use can be found on the JK Internet web site such as the site search box and the product configuration wizard.  

As users enter data into web form fields, or click checkboxes, the page communicates with the server. The site-search box starts searching as soon as the user has entered 3 or more characters. If the user continues typing, the search starts again. Once a set of results is found, it is displayed in the right-hand column.

The product configuration wizard allows customers to select a solution based on our product database. When product options are selected they are added automatically to the quote, changing both the quote items and options available as the user selects different alternatives without the need for page refreshes or page submits, thus giving the user instant results.

Cost-effective Scalability

JK Internet has always provided the ability to scale a solution as the business demands increase. This is achieved by ensuring the service can extend beyond the platform that it is built on, so the solution itself can be extended seamlessly.

Many of the principles often applied to open-source software development are also applied by the JK Internet development team. Key to this is a strong link between the user community and development team – where new ideas and feedback are directly responsible for software modification. Regular software releases reduce the time taken to implement changes; typically only a few days pass between software versions.

JK Internet software has been designed from the ground up to allow users to extend its capabilities through the use of APIs, web services and several different scripting methods.

Although JK Internet’s software solutions have always been available on a “right to use” licence basis, the majority of our solutions are provided as a service. We operate the network, hardware, systems, databases and software necessary to provide a service to the end-user. 

Our solution can also extend beyond a single platform, and even beyond the web itself. Forms and documents, such as Word, Excel and PDF can be dynamically generated, and devices such as PDAs and mobile phones can be integrated into a solution. Data can be linked across the Internet, using XML-based solutions such as web services.

Implementing Web2.0 using JK Internet Software

The most important step in exploiting the features within JK Internet software is to analyse how users actually do interact, or could interact with your business. This may be new users making product of service enquiries, or it may be existing customers tracking projects or requesting account details, or placing support calls. These functions can be very labour intensive in traditional business models. By providing these functions through the web site both the quality of the customer experience is improved and staff are released for more rewarding tasks.  

The ultimate goal of any website has to be to automate these mundane tasks, whilst providing a customised interface to each user or group of users based on logon information, hence giving a personalised service. This provides the business cost savings in terms of staff and accommodation (the cost of office space is increasing at an alarming rate) as well as traditional communication methods (e.g. telephone, postal costs etc) with the added benefit of improving information flow in both directions with the customer. 

Once these mundane or interactive processes have been identified, the correct tools for linking them to the web site system are required. JK Internet’s software provides the tools to integrate the back end databases that hold the information and present the information in any number of ways. It is important to understand that the Website is a portal to display information as required.  

Our system creates web pages based on the content required and the template or style sheet called for by the customer identity. Websites must move away from pages being “designed” to being dynamically created using the content engine and transaction engine. 

To explore how deploying a JK Internet solution will enhance your business, please contact us on 01635 551733 or email info@j-k.co.uk