Database-Driven Mobile Web Content Construction

2011 ◽  
pp. 229-259
Author(s):  
Wen-Chen Hu
Keyword(s):  
User Interface ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Web Site ◽  
Database Management System ◽  
Host Computer ◽  
Handheld Devices ◽  
Web Content ◽  
Markup Languages ◽  
Mobile Web ◽  
Function Module

Numerous server-side handheld applications are available for devices. Some popular applications include: • Instant messages, which require service providers to relay the messages, • Mobile web content, which consists of web content that can be viewed via handheld devices and can be implemented using markup languages such as HTML, WML, cHTML, and DIAL, • On-line games, which are video games playable on the Internet that allow remote players to play the games together, and • Telephony, which is the most common operation performed by smartphone users and requires the telecommunication company to provide the service. Among the various mobile applications, mobile web content is the most popular application and this chapter will be devoted to a detailed consideration of the construction of database-driven mobile web content. The term “handheld programming” is used here to refer to mobile-commerce programming for Internet-enabled mobile handheld devices, which requires various programming and markup languages and utilities. As in previous chapters, the concepts involved in handheld programming are illustrated using a case study, in this case the construction of a B2C, mobile, online video-game store. A database-driven mobile web site is often implemented using a three-tiered client-server architecture consisting, as the name suggests, of three layers: 1. User interface: This runs on a mobile handheld device (the client) and uses a standard graphical user interface (GUI). 2. Function module: This level actually processes data and may consist of one or more separate modules running on a workstation or an application server. This tier may be multi-tiered itself, in which case the overall architecture is called an n-tier architecture. 3. Database management system (DBMS): A DBMS on a host computer stores the data required by the middle tier. The three-tier design offers many advantages over traditional two-tier or single-tier designs, the chief one being that the modular structure makes it easier to modify or replace one tier without affecting the others. Figure 9.1 shows a generalized system structure of database-driven mobile web sites. Note that web and database servers are not hardware; they are the processes running on host computers that manage web pages and databases, respectively. Many approaches can be used to create a database-driven mobile web site; the following list suggests the construction steps for a typical approach: 1. system setup, 2. database design and implementation, 3. mobile web user interface construction, 4. web and host-computer connection such as CGI, and 5. database accesses and management using host languages with embedded SQL such as JDBC. These five steps are not definite, nor are they unique. Other approaches may also be used. An example of a B2C video-game store construction will be used in this chapter to demonstrate the above steps, except for Step 1, which was discussed in Chapter V.

Technologies and Systems for Web Content Adaptation

2010 ◽  
pp. 263-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen-Chen Hu ◽  
Naima Kaabouch ◽  
Hung-Jen Yang ◽  
Weihong Hu
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Handheld Devices ◽  
Web Pages ◽  
Web Content ◽  
Page Segmentation ◽  
Mobile Web ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Network Bandwidth ◽  
Notebook Computers ◽  
Arduous Task

The world has witnessed the blossom of mobile commerce in the past few years. Traditional Web pages are mainly designed for desktop or notebook computers. They usually do not suit the devices well because the pages, especially the large files, cannot be properly, speedily displayed on the microbrowsers due to the limitations of mobile handheld devices: (i) small screen size, (ii) narrow network bandwidth, (iii) low memory capacity, and (iv) limited computing power and resources. Therefore, loading and visualizing large documents on handheld devices become an arduous task. Various methods are created for browsing the mobile Web efficiently and effectively. This chapter investigates some of the methods: (i) page segmentation, (ii) component ranking, and (iii) other ad hoc methods. Though each method employs a different strategy, their goals are the same: conveying the meaning of Web pages by using minimum space. The major problem of the current methods is that it is not easy to find the clear-cut components in a Web page. Other related issues such as mobile handheld devices and microbrowsers will also be discussed in this chapter.

Mobile World Wide Web Content

2011 ◽  
pp. 139-161
Author(s):  
Wen-Chen Hu
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Handheld Devices ◽  
Network Programming ◽  
Web Content ◽  
Design And Development ◽  
Mobile Web ◽  
Server Side ◽  
Handheld Computing ◽  
Client Side ◽  
Wireless Mobile

As handheld computing is a fairly new computing area, there is as yet no generally accepted formal definition. For the purposes of this book, therefore, it will be defined as follows: Handheld computing is the use of handheld devices such as smart cellular phones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) to perform wireless, mobile, handheld operations such as personal data management and making phone calls. As explained earlier, handheld computing can take one of two forms: server- and client- side handheld computing, which are defined as follows: • Server-side handheld computing: Here, handheld devices are used to perform wireless, mobile, handheld operations that require the support of a server. Examples of such applications include: (a) instant messages, (b) mobile web content, (c) online video games, and (d) wireless telephony. • Client-side handheld computing: This refers to the use of handheld devices to perform handheld operations that do not need the support of a server. Examples of these applications include: (a) address books, (b) standalone video games, (c) note pads, and (d) to-do-lists. The terms “computing” and “programming” are sometimes confusing and often misused. It is important to remember that “handheld programming,” defined as programming for handheld devices, is different from “handheld computing” and is made up of two kinds of programming: • Server-side handheld programming: This includes the design and development of handheld software such as CGI programs that reside on servers. • Client-side handheld programming: This refers to the design and development of handheld software such as Java ME programs that reside on the handheld devices themselves. Server-side handheld computing and programming usually involve complicated procedures and advanced programming such as TCP/IP network programming. Here we will focus on the most popular server-side handheld application, mobile web content design and development, which can be conveniently considered in terms of three themes: • WML (Wireless Markup Language), which will be discussed in Chapters VI and VII, • WMLScript, which will be explained in Chapter VIII, and • database-driven mobile web content development, which will be covered in Chapter IX. Other kinds of server-side handheld applications, such as instant messaging, are related to advanced network programming such as TCP/IP and readers may refer to other technical reports or books for more information. The rest of this chapter describes the background and discusses system setup for server-side handheld computing and programming. A case study, adaptive mobile web browsing using web mining technologies, is given at the end of this chapter.

National Marfan Foundation Launches Mobile Web Site

2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Catherine Cooper Nellist
Keyword(s):  
Web Site ◽  
Mobile Web

A framework for programmatically designing user interfaces in JavaScript

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 254-269
Author(s):  
Henry Larkin
Keyword(s):  
User Interface ◽  
User Interfaces ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Program Code ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mobile Web ◽  
Mobile Interfaces ◽  
New Framework

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the feasibility of creating a declarative user interface language suitable for rapid prototyping of mobile and Web apps. Moreover, this paper presents a new framework for creating responsive user interfaces using JavaScript. Design/methodology/approach – Very little existing research has been done in JavaScript-specific declarative user interface (UI) languages for mobile Web apps. This paper introduces a new framework, along with several case studies that create modern responsive designs programmatically. Findings – The fully implemented prototype verifies the feasibility of a JavaScript-based declarative user interface library. This paper demonstrates that existing solutions are unwieldy and cumbersome to dynamically create and adjust nodes within a visual syntax of program code. Originality/value – This paper presents the Guix.js platform, a declarative UI library for rapid development of Web-based mobile interfaces in JavaScript.

Mobile Social Web; Opportunities and Drawbacks

2011 ◽  
pp. 2500-2510
Author(s):  
Thorsten Caus ◽  
Stefan Christmann
Keyword(s):  
Online Communities ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
Mobile Internet ◽  
Social Web ◽  
Web Content ◽  
Mobile Web ◽  
Technical Requirements ◽  
Revenue Sources ◽  
Usage Patterns ◽  
Economic Perspectives

As mobile Internet usage continues to grow, the phenomenon of accessing online communities through mobile devices draws researchers’ attention. Statistics show that close to 60 percent of all mobile Internet traffic worldwide is related to the use of mobile social networks. In this chapter, the mobile social web is defined, categories of mobile communities explained, and success factors and drawbacks discussed from the technical, social, and economic perspectives. Challenges, including low transmission rates, changes in usage patterns, search for new revenue sources, as well as the need for development of original mobile web content and applications are addressed. The technical requirements for the mobile use of online communities are identified. The chapter closes with a summary of potential economic and social prospects of the emerging mobile social web.

Multilingual Web Sites in Global Electronic Commerce

2011 ◽  
pp. 823-828
Author(s):  
Shaoyi He
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Commerce ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Web Site ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Web Content ◽  
Fortune 500 Companies ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
The Many ◽  
Content Design ◽  
The Web

The World Wide Web (the Web), a distributed hypermedia information system that provides global access to the Internet, has been most widely used for exchanging information, providing services, and doing business across national boundaries. It is difficult to find out exactly when the first multilingual Web site was up and running on the Internet, but as early as January 1, 1993, EuroNews, the first multilingual Web site in Europe, was launched to simultaneously cover world news from a European perspective in seven languages: English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. (EuroNews, 2005). In North America, Web site multilinguality has become an important aspect of electronic commerce (e-commerce) as more and more Fortune 500 companies rely on the Internet and the Web to reach out to millions of customers and clients. Having a successful multilingual Web site goes beyond just translating the original Web content into different languages for different locales. Besides the language issue, there are other important issues involved in Web site multilinguality: culture, technology, content, design, accessibility, usability, and management (Bingi, Mir, & Khamalah, 2000; Dempsey, 1999; Hillier, 2003; Lindenberg, 2003; MacLeod, 2000). This article will briefly address the issues related to: (1) language that is one of the many elements conforming culture, (2) culture that greatly affects the functionality and communication of multilingual Web sites, and (3) technology that enables the multilingual support of e-commerce Web sites, focusing on the challenges and strategies of Web site multilinguality in global e-commerce.

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