E-Commerce Technology Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

E-Commerce Technology - Coursework Example HTML functions to define the structure and style of a document including the headings, graphic positioning, tables and text formatting. Since the advent of HTML, there has been a continuous addition in the features of the language by the two major browsers, Netscape's Navigator and Microsoft's Internet Explorer, in order to enhance and refine the page layouts. However, many of the improvements work on only one company's browser which is a threat to the achievement of a universal computer platform. Furthermore, the cost of building e-commerce sites is escalated by the addition of proprietary functionality while building browsers. There must be special care taken during the building of e-commerce sites to enable the page views by major browsers. Any text editor can be used to create HTML web pages. For example, notepad, WordPad, Microsoft word or any of the several web page editors. The advent of web page formatting languages was with the SGML-Standard Generalized Markup Language which was formulated in 1986. Along with HTML, Extensible markup language (XML) is also widely used. Online Auction Sites With the advancement of technology and the enablement of the use of digitally advanced mode of communication, the business market is becoming more virtual. Consumers tend to carry out transactions from their home through the internet or the telephone. More recently is the concept of online retailing or E-commerce which has taken the markets and shopping with a blaze. (Fryman, 2004) Consumers are now turning towards shopping online which seems to be more convenient and easy. This is increasing the competition makes businesses come up with innovative ideas to create a competitive advantage and become prominent in the market. One of the innovative concepts that has emerged is online auction for people who are interested in bidding and buying products through auctions. Online auction sites that offer penny auction are becoming increasingly popular as they benefit both the buyers and the sellers. EBay is one of the most famous online auction site that offers all kinds of products. Other websites like bid66 are also easy to use as being user friendly is one of the key requirements of an auction site. Consumers prefer online auctions as they believe that it offers products at the best prices. Some of the factors that characterize good online auction sites include a well-versed privacy policy of the company that shows the customer how the private information is being used and whether it is safe and confidential. Moreover, the guidelines of the transactions must be clear with the fees and commission, if any, be mentioned visibly. Also, information regarding the transfer of funds and the delivery of products should also be comprehensible and unambiguous. ASPs As the overall competition among businesses is increasing and most large scale businesses are getting larger and taking an even larger chunk of the market, it is getting harder for the medium and sma ll scale businesses to cope up with the advancements and the changing business practices. Application service providers came into being with the advent of internet and the changes that it brought to the business models. As the demand for technology increases, there were not enough qualified IT professionals to serve the needs of the small and medium sized firms. Furthermore, it was extremely difficult for these businesses, which are already stretched in