CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
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.
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 Research Hypothesis
Ho Web Based Client Application for lecturers in IBBU is not effective
Hi Web Based Client Application for Lecturers in IBBU is effective
1.6 Significance of the Study
The study proffers a structural appraisal of the nature of Web Based Client Application for lecturers in IBBU.
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.
